I had a talk about death and looting with my son yesterday. It was actually harder than having the birds and the bees talk. Trying to put into words the possible reasons for violence is more difficult than I thought. As a parent, I find myself grappling with how to address topics like social justice, racism, and fairness when it is almost impossible to have a truly balanced perspective. My role in life, as a psychologist, is to see both sides of things and to help others come to a place of agreement and unity (as much as possible). My husband will tell you I am a master of Devil’s Advocacy. In some cases though, it is awfully difficult to not take a strong stance. I spent some time yesterday building a plan for doing right by the process of teaching my son about when things are not balanced and how he can safely work on shifting the scales. Like the facts of life conversation, saying nothing is the worst thing that you can do. They will get information from the internet, friends, memes, videos, and in snippets, like a Tweet or post on Instagram. With big topics like this, it is your duty as a parent to provide factual and helpful insights to mentally deal with things that are not logical. Use this time to really talk with your children about what they are seeing in the world, how your family and community is reacting, and what they can do to speak up, speak out, join together, and move toward a better future for themselves and the rest of the world. Talk about ways to be active TOGETHER instead of splitting our homes and communities apart. Consider some links below for conversation starters. Make this summer an opportunity for a dive into the history of where we are today and ways that your kids can rewrite the story for the future.
https://www.embracerace.org/resources/26-childrens-books-to-support-conversations-on-race-racism-resistance
https://www.tolerance.org/about
Activism isn’t just for adults and teens. We need to teach younger kids to be activists, too.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/kidspost/2020/04/11/12-kids-who-are-changing-their-communities-our-world/?arc404=true
