We were thrilled with the responses we received for our Little Citizens of the World blog contest – thank you to everyone that entered.  Selecting the winners was a difficult task – we loved the different interpretations of the contest.  The blog contest entries inspired great conversations in the office – we hope it has for you as well. 

Congratulations to our First Place Winner, who will receive a $500 Tea gift certificate: Jayme at adventures of the wonder twins

2nd Place Winner, recipient of a $200 gift certificate: Annie at Milk Dreams

3rd Place Winner, recipient of a $100 gift certificate: Meg at Backpack to Buggy

All three winners will also receive the “Be My Neighbor” Book and a Little Citizens Hoodie.

We also wanted to highlight a couple Honorable Mentions:

The Cechs Nest

The Bradford Family’s Blog

megistopolis

One Crazy Mother

At Tea Collection, we strive to be inspired, global, warm, and mindful.  We were inspired to read how the “Little Citizens of the World” are learning these qualities too. Be sure to check out all of the contest entries when you get a chance. Congratulations again to our winners!

I walked into my friend’s house one day and noticed a huge wonderful oil painting of a mother and a father standing with two children standing in front of them and a small child on peeking over the shoulder of the father. I told my friend Liz, “Wow I love that painting, is that new?” She replied “No. That is my family; I am the one on my dad’s back. We had it done when we were little and my mom just gave it to me.” I thought how wonderful that piece of art was and how nice to have it passed down.

Recently I was in a business in San Francisco that had an installation of local artists paintings and I fell in love with one of the artists style. I initially thought it would be great if he could do a portrait of my 5-year-old daughter, Olivia. That is when I had my epiphany. I contacted the artist and commissioned him to do a family portrait. The key was that he is a local budding artist so he is affordable. While I was creating a memory for her I decided to incorporate a fantastic family journey we experienced, hoping to further instill her experience in Egypt from her then 4-year old mind. Now she sees the painting on a daily basis and couldn’t possibly forget sharing a camel with her father while riding next to her mother on her camel in the Sahara desert past the Pyramids of Egypt and the Great Sphinx. I can visualize 40 years in the future, my daughter explaining to her friend “that is me, the little one sitting in my dad’s lap.”

My 13-month-old daughter Zoe practically lives in Daily Tea and gets a lot of complements on her Daily Tea outfits. They are the perfect comfortable, resilient, and stylish play clothes and we love them. Even her Dad (who rarely notices baby clothes) gets excited for Daily Tea. But until recently we had yet to venture into Tea Collection.
With several events coming up –Thanksgiving, a new years party, a few birthday parties and a trip to see family and friends in Los Angeles, I was looking for some outfits that will really stand out. I fell in love with the Bryggen Stripe Sweater Dress, but decided that none of Zoe’s events were formal enough to warrant “twirl factor at a maximum” as promised in the description on the tea website.

When choosing clothes for Zoe I gravitate towards comfortable knits (thus my obsession with Daily Tea), and so I decided on the Rasmussen Floral Knit dress. I also purchased the matching Pointelle Leggings. I figured we can pair the dress with tights and Mary-Janes for parties, and then she can wear the dress with the more casual leggings this winter as a comfy yet gorgeous every day outfit. When the weather gets cooler we can pull out the coordinating bloomers that come with the dress. For activities such as dinners and brunches out with friends I chose the adorable Sno Flugen Hoodie and the Vindella Velvet Trousers in lavender. The velvet of these pants when paired with the otherwise casual hoodie makes the outfit just dressy enough. I also picked up the Daily Tea Chrysanthemum dress and another pair of bootcut leggings from the early Fall collection to mix and match with the Daily Tea Bird Dress which has been a favorite of ours this season. I can’t wait to put Zoe in all of her fabulous new Tea clothes!

I came across a wonderful video about global citizenship earlier this week from A Place of Our Own. If you have a few minutes, click here to watch the short movie. Its a great piece on how you can teach your little citizens about the great big world.

At Tea, “For Little Citizens of the World” says it all. The “for” is at the heart of our work – it reminds us about the why.

At Tea we believe raising our children to be familiar with other cultures shapes them into better world citizens, conscious, aware, and mindful members of the global community. When we started Tea, we aspired to work toward this goal through our collections, bringing globally inspired designs to the world’s little citizens.

After a few seasons, we wanted to make our philosophy more tangible. We searched for a partner that had a similar point of view and found the perfect match in the Global Fund for Children.

The GFC’s inspiring work includes financing grassroots organizations that transform the lives of children around the world. They also publish beautiful books that make the foreign a little more familiar for our own children through pictures and stories.

The GFC’s books below are great ways to begin talking to your little citizens about the great big world:

Children from Australia to Zimbabwe

And the companion guide for parents: Raising Children to Become Caring Contributors to the World

My boys will try anything at least once, when it comes to food. Because my husband and I have a wide range of favorite cuisines (most often of the Thai or Middle Eastern variety) there is always a new opportunity to sample something new with chopsticks and little fingers. We do most of our dining at home, so the kitchen is where much messiness and bonding and learning takes place. They all are great at adding spices and helping with the veggies. And often they invent their own, ahem, unique edible creations. And since they are good sports to try what we make, Mommy & Daddy go along and try what they make, too!

Choosing restaurants that offer the not-so-usual American kid’s menu fare has allowed us to introduce delicious opportunities for our sons to taste. Not only are the entrees part of the experience, but the atmosphere and artwork representing culture and lifestyle different from what we know is all part of the adventure.

A favorite book of ours is Mama Panya’s Pancakes, A Village Tale From Kenya. Not only does it have a recipe and take the young reader along as Mama and her son shop for their evening meal, but it also teaches about sharing and turning what might seem like a little bit to some into something very big afterall.

Stephanie Precourt writes daily at Adventures In Babywearing.