It makes me so so sad/angry/crazy thinking of all the kids today that go to school worrying about if they might be shot. Rationally, I know this is on par with thinking your plane will crash and just driving on the freeway is 100 times more life risking that flying... or going to elementary school. But just that it happens and is so random and unstoppable. That our politicians do absolutely nothing (the phrase "thoughts and prayers" now makes me almost homicidal) is beyond comprehension. Owning guns is now more important than the mental health and wellbeing of our children. This is now a fact about the US that is proven multiple times a year. We are morally bankrupt. Perhaps this is not surprising for a country created by land theft and genocide. That had an economy that, for over 200 years, was almost wholly dependant on the enslavement and terrorization of millions of human beings. Is it any surprise that the individual's right to possess weapons designed specifically to kill as many people as possible as quickly as possible is now enshrined in our founding document? That our modern interpretation of "a well trained militia" is an 18 year old disgruntled boy whose prefrontal cortex is so undeveloped he has no problem gunning down elementary school children because he is frustrated? This has become so prevalent that the CDC has (finally!!) declared that gun deaths are a health crisis in our country. But what they really are is a moral crisis. More guns do NOT make us safer... the surest way to increasing your chance of dying prematurely is to bring a gun into your home. But the backwards logic of unrestricted gun ownership continues to be a touchstone for a whole segment of our society. It is the right to kill to maintain your status. It is deeply ingrained in a society founded on the concept of manifest destiny. If you feel your benefits are ordained and outweigh the rights of others, you need a very big stick to intimidate and even kill those in your way f they start to object.
I always feel like you’re writing about my kids. My three are the exact same ages and seem to match up so much in personality / temperament. It’s eerie.
We had a lockdown today bc of a threat posted on social media by a student at the high school. I didn’t find out about it until I checked my email in the afternoon bc my kids were home sick. We keep saying we’re going to talk to Rowan about uvalde (I’m sure he’s heard about it) but we haven’t. I don’t really know what to say???
One day we will get our kids together and the universe will...explode?!
My kids know all about Uvalde, though Ginger didn't seem to pay attention to any of our discussions about it. Dixon was home sick the week the shooting happened, but I assume his class talked about it. Are you sure Rowan didn't speak with his class about it, and process it there? It's such a tough topic to broach with them. Just so fucking scary. Ugh.
Very open, loving, vulnerable descriptions of your children. In terms of checking in with a behavioral psychologist- I’d tread very lightly. Too many are too quick to prescribe personality changing medications that could potentially have detrimental effects. It sounds like you have very creative. imaginative children. I’d continue to cultivate that. I think the most important thing parents can do is to create a calm, safe and secure environment (even if that’s not how we always feel).
Thanks, Chloe! To be clear, we would help Ginger with play and talk therapy, for the time being. CBT is a lifesaver, so that would be the first course of action as she gets older.
Ugh, I was in tears by the end of this one. You are such a wonderful writer and mother.
It makes me so so sad/angry/crazy thinking of all the kids today that go to school worrying about if they might be shot. Rationally, I know this is on par with thinking your plane will crash and just driving on the freeway is 100 times more life risking that flying... or going to elementary school. But just that it happens and is so random and unstoppable. That our politicians do absolutely nothing (the phrase "thoughts and prayers" now makes me almost homicidal) is beyond comprehension. Owning guns is now more important than the mental health and wellbeing of our children. This is now a fact about the US that is proven multiple times a year. We are morally bankrupt. Perhaps this is not surprising for a country created by land theft and genocide. That had an economy that, for over 200 years, was almost wholly dependant on the enslavement and terrorization of millions of human beings. Is it any surprise that the individual's right to possess weapons designed specifically to kill as many people as possible as quickly as possible is now enshrined in our founding document? That our modern interpretation of "a well trained militia" is an 18 year old disgruntled boy whose prefrontal cortex is so undeveloped he has no problem gunning down elementary school children because he is frustrated? This has become so prevalent that the CDC has (finally!!) declared that gun deaths are a health crisis in our country. But what they really are is a moral crisis. More guns do NOT make us safer... the surest way to increasing your chance of dying prematurely is to bring a gun into your home. But the backwards logic of unrestricted gun ownership continues to be a touchstone for a whole segment of our society. It is the right to kill to maintain your status. It is deeply ingrained in a society founded on the concept of manifest destiny. If you feel your benefits are ordained and outweigh the rights of others, you need a very big stick to intimidate and even kill those in your way f they start to object.
But excuse me for being a stupid woke snowflake.
Amen!
I always feel like you’re writing about my kids. My three are the exact same ages and seem to match up so much in personality / temperament. It’s eerie.
We had a lockdown today bc of a threat posted on social media by a student at the high school. I didn’t find out about it until I checked my email in the afternoon bc my kids were home sick. We keep saying we’re going to talk to Rowan about uvalde (I’m sure he’s heard about it) but we haven’t. I don’t really know what to say???
One day we will get our kids together and the universe will...explode?!
My kids know all about Uvalde, though Ginger didn't seem to pay attention to any of our discussions about it. Dixon was home sick the week the shooting happened, but I assume his class talked about it. Are you sure Rowan didn't speak with his class about it, and process it there? It's such a tough topic to broach with them. Just so fucking scary. Ugh.
Very open, loving, vulnerable descriptions of your children. In terms of checking in with a behavioral psychologist- I’d tread very lightly. Too many are too quick to prescribe personality changing medications that could potentially have detrimental effects. It sounds like you have very creative. imaginative children. I’d continue to cultivate that. I think the most important thing parents can do is to create a calm, safe and secure environment (even if that’s not how we always feel).
Thanks, Chloe! To be clear, we would help Ginger with play and talk therapy, for the time being. CBT is a lifesaver, so that would be the first course of action as she gets older.