Over dinner the past few days, we’ve had a couple of conversations with K2 that definitely veered into the “Dear Universe, please send more wine!” category. Where somewhere in between Can I have seconds? and Why are Republicans trying to kill people? came a couple of very pointed questions about explicit sexual activity (actual questions redacted because a whole bunch of you will be seeing all four of us at Netroots Nation in a few short weeks). Now, as a household where open and honest conversation about ALL topics is encouraged and where both parents are trained sexuality education facilitators, we rolled with the questions in an age-appropriate, factual way and got back to the really important issue… was there any more of Mr. Brillig’s utterly amazing smoked brisket.
Today, I saw a video originally posted on Youtube in February, where parents had a different sort of conversation with their kids. Grab a strong beverage, something soft and fuzzy to hold onto (it can be someONE, I’m not asking if they’re soft and fuzzy!), and a box of tissues, and join me in watching the video below the story break- after a word from our sponsor of course…
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Here’s the video. Please watch it. I’ll wait.
Here are my questions:
* How did it feel to watch that?
* How do you think it feels to be a parent having that conversation?
* How do you think it feels to be a child listening to your parent?
* If you’re parenting white children, have you ever felt a need to have that conversation? How about if you’re parenting children of color?
I’ve written about The Conversation before, the one mostly parents of black children need to have so that our kids stay alive. This video gutted me because of the visceral reactions of the children as they listened to their parents share experiences of racism while being stopped by police.
I shared it on Facebook and got a response I wasn’t expecting, from a friend parenting a (white) child with autism. She said she has similar conversations with her son, because he doesn’t always understand personal space and will walk up and touch other people’s things… and that reaching for a police officer’s weapon could be fatal. She did say he’s got white privilege that will help insulate him, but I know that mental illness also is a condition that somehow makes highly trained, allegedly fearless police officers #fearfortheirlives. We’ve both taken steps to ensure our local police officers know our sons, recognize them as part of our communities.
Stay safe out there, everyone… and look out for one another. We’re all we’ve got.
On to what you visit our nightly community diary series for… the trio of Top Comments, Mojo and Pictures that are the backbone of Top Comments! Many thanks to my collaborator BeninSC for expertly formatting tonight’s diary!
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Highlighted by DFWmom:
Top Mojo ala mik!
For Monday, June 26, 2017, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on the subject.
2017-06-27, courtesy of jotter!