Wow, what if I wrote what was actually on my mind. Well, why not?
I am so glad that I don’t have to explain trump to my children. Ollie is seven-years-old, and it is important that he has some awareness of what is going on in the world. However, because our house doesn’t have cable and we don’t put the news on when we walk into the rooms, Ollie doesn’t have a sense of what is happening as it happens for the most part. I don’t think he needs to know the details of all that happened last week right now. He knows that trump is a bad, sad, and pathetic man. That’s enough.
It must take so much effort and thought to be a parent who is helping their teenager process all they are seeing online and hearing from their peers about trump. Every week, often multiple times a week parents all across America trying to do the right thing, are having difficult conversations with their children. This must be exhausting. I understand on one level wanting your children to see the last presidential debate. But I don’t understand being surprised, and disgusted at trump’s horrible behavior and wallace’s pathetic performance as a “moderator.” Of course, it’s inappropriate for children. trump is inappropriate for our children.
I have shown Ollie speeches by President Obama, Senator Harris, Senator Warren, and other politicians. But I refuse to let Ollie watch a speech or, even a 10-second sound bite from trump. More likely than not Ollie would see a person say something that is hateful, mean, racist, or spiteful. No one wants their children to talk like trump. Why would I let my children see this man model this horrible way of being?
Look I know. I KNOW that life isn’t fair. You can drive the speed limit all your life, and still manage to get a traffic ticket and that guy who is going way too fast doesn’t get caught. I’ve known that people haven’t worked nearly as hard as my family to be safe about the pandemic, and they haven’t gotten Covid-19. It’s annoying to live with the knowledge that people think I’m overreacting, and I’m being an idiot for doing the right thing to keep me and my family safe.
I’m doing all of this stuff as a parent for my children. It’s hard, and it’s stressful, but we keep at it because it’s the right thing to do. Seeing trump just actively mock what I do for my family, and then get Covid-19 and twist his experience to only further gaslight Americans is beyond frustrating.
Every time I think that I could get away with not being as careful, I think about my children, and horrible it would be for them if I got sick. It scares me more to think about how my children would deal with me being sick than the actual experience of having Covid-19. I am so glad that I have my children in my mind, and in my heart to push me past my lazier moments and not give up on doing what is right.
I don’t know what I’m going to tell my children about this time when they are older, but I want to make sure that I am able to tell them that I did the right thing, for myself and for them. They will know about a guy named trump and the damage that he did, but more than that I hope that they will know how much their mom and dad did during this difficult time to help them know that they are loved.
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