I grew up southern baptist, which means that most of the people I know are republican, in the past I have rarely posted politics or discussed it, but the past is over...I now confront it head on, that being said, I refuse to go low, and will try my best to always go high…
A lot of people wondered how I could take my kids to such a March (we just went to our local one), I didn't mind the question, since it allowed me to reflect more than I would otherwise on why I did, and here is what I came up with...
I want to teach my kids that if you feel like someone is a bully, you can stand up to them, but always do it peacefully...if you are brave, you will find that many others are right there with you...the concern I have about kids thinking that being a bully is a good thing is a lot greater than my concern about my kids hearing that other kids do not like the president...my kids heard a ton of anti Hillary stuff during the election which led to talks about whether we could be friends with people that disagreed with us, and the conclusion that we came to was that we absolutely could, just because we disagreed with them on politics didn't mean anything about the person - which led to a talk about all the different things that we might disagree with others about - tv shows , Pokémon, how much time mom should let them have the iPad, colors, etc.
I want to teach my kids that you aren't helpless when government is putting policies in place that you don't like, you can find supportive people (which was part of the purpose of the March) and organize and set goals to make the government better / so many feel so helpless when government does something that they don't like when in reality we live in a country where if we would just realize it, the people have the power...to me that is the most pro-government and more specifically pro-democratic message you can send...
And finally, I want to teach my kids what a difference real people power has made in the past, this little protest led to a discussion about the early 1900s when women didn't even have the rights to vote, those women would not have gotten that right if they didn't speak out, again, what a wonderful place we live that we can do so without fear...we can have that conversation again and again, because people power has worked since this nation was founded...