Chancla
Healing Our Families, Ourselves, and Our Culture through Nonviolent Parenting
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Aug 18, 2026
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
A parenting guide that speaks directly to Latinx families with language, history, and lived experience that honors and celebrates our cultura—while helping readers unlearn violence and shame as tools of discipline.
For many in the Latinx community, “la Chancla”—what we learn to see as the warning sign for disciplinary violence—has become a cultural symbol that has spawned relatable memes that many of us laugh about and bond over. But what if it’s also a symbol of something more harmful?
In Chancla, educator and Latinx Parenting founder, Leslie Priscilla, invites readers, parents, and the Latinx community on a transformative journey away from cycles of fear, shame, and corporal punishment. With warmth and deep cultural insight, Priscilla explores the historical legacies attached to Chancla while offering a path forward rooted in connection, self-reflection, and ancestral healing. Chancla is the nonviolent parenting practice that celebrates Latinx cultura, while teaching its readers—and their Mamis, Papis, Tias, and Tios—how to heal from generational violence.
Blending personal storytelling, historical context, and actionable tools, Chancla helps readers not only nurture their children, but their wounded inner child. Readers will see themselves in these pages, because ultimately Chancla encourages them to unlearn what they’ve inherited and make space for what they deserve: homes full of love, safety, and respect.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Priscilla, founder of the children's rights organization Latinx Parenting, debuts with a compassionate call to end "Chancla Culture," or the use of corporal punishment, shame, and fear to get children to follow rules. Chancla is Spanish for sandal or flip-flop, but in Latinx culture, the term has become synonymous with punishment because adults are known to use them to hit children. She argues Chancla Culture behaviors can have detrimental effects on child development, whereas consistent, nurturing environments create secure attachment styles, leading to better parent-child relationships and ultimately strengthening the wider community. Priscilla traces the roots of hierarchical family systems and strict deference to authority back to colonization, noting that when parents express sentiments like "I spank you because I love you," it's "as though they can prevent violence from befalling their children by... enacting violence against them first." In order to break the cycle, Priscilla encourages examining the parenting blueprints one grew up with, "reparenting" oneself by connecting with joy and creativity, and learning to set boundaries, which can be especially important for those who while growing up didn't get much practice saying "no" without repercussions. Mixing historical insights, firsthand accounts, and practical guidance, Priscilla supports parents who wish to "honor our community while choosing a different path." Readers will feel seen.
