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Remembering On Indigenous People's Day -- All Things Connect
"How to Help Prepare Kids for Suffering" by Tish Harrison Warren"... Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida bemoaned the affect of Covid precautions in schools, saying of students, “We need to be able to let them be kids and let them act normally.”
I have heard this idea often. I understand this impulse, but it implies that to “let kids be kids” we must ignore the realities of the world, instead of teaching them to live responsibly and resiliently amid them.
The failure to learn empathy and civic duty is a worse fate than having to forgo birthday parties, graduations or play dates.
The problem with parents focusing on how to “get out” of Covid precautions — or the societal commitment in the part of the South where I live to alter essentially nothing about our lives during this pandemic — is that it teaches privileged kids that the problems of the world aren’t their responsibility.
Way back in March 2020, when we first had to begin wearing masks and to practice social distancing, our kids were understandably annoyed and complained about these new precautions. But the conversations these frustrations allowed us to have as family were a gift. We reminded them why we take up inconveniences and burdens for the sake of others. For a year and a half now, these practices have slowly taught our kids — through their very bodies — to love their most vulnerable neighbors.
The pandemic gave kids a chance to respond actively to the pain and suffering of the world and to work for the common good.
We need to let children know that the ways they sacrificed for others is not only right but part of what it means to live well and beautifully in a hurting world.
My kids will look back on these years and remember some good times we had, some happy memories, some special rhythms and practices we picked up as a family.
But they will also remember a lot of chaos, change, difficulty, frustration, loneliness and disappointment.
And that’s not all bad to recall. Because, then, they may recall that the pain of the world must affect how we live our lives. They may recall that they can go through hard things and not be undone by them."
I have heard this idea often. I understand this impulse, but it implies that to “let kids be kids” we must ignore the realities of the world, instead of teaching them to live responsibly and resiliently amid them.
The failure to learn empathy and civic duty is a worse fate than having to forgo birthday parties, graduations or play dates.
The problem with parents focusing on how to “get out” of Covid precautions — or the societal commitment in the part of the South where I live to alter essentially nothing about our lives during this pandemic — is that it teaches privileged kids that the problems of the world aren’t their responsibility.
Way back in March 2020, when we first had to begin wearing masks and to practice social distancing, our kids were understandably annoyed and complained about these new precautions. But the conversations these frustrations allowed us to have as family were a gift. We reminded them why we take up inconveniences and burdens for the sake of others. For a year and a half now, these practices have slowly taught our kids — through their very bodies — to love their most vulnerable neighbors.
The pandemic gave kids a chance to respond actively to the pain and suffering of the world and to work for the common good.
We need to let children know that the ways they sacrificed for others is not only right but part of what it means to live well and beautifully in a hurting world.
My kids will look back on these years and remember some good times we had, some happy memories, some special rhythms and practices we picked up as a family.
But they will also remember a lot of chaos, change, difficulty, frustration, loneliness and disappointment.
And that’s not all bad to recall. Because, then, they may recall that the pain of the world must affect how we live our lives. They may recall that they can go through hard things and not be undone by them."
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/10/opinion/covid-trauma-kids.html
Children's future must drive our political fights today.
