Raging Pandemic, Riots and Racism; A Conversation with my 10 year old daughter, Part 1

A Conversation with my 10 year old on the Raging Pandemic Rioting and Racism.  

For the past few months I have had so many conversations with my daughter Ava regarding her mental health surrounding the pandemic, the Capitol riots and racism in general.  For those of you that don’t know my daughter is bi-racial and so we have been having conversations for years on racism and these conversations have been ongoing in my household, I thought it would good to share with you a portion of my conversation with my daughter Ava and her thoughts surrounding the pandemic, the capitol riots and racism.  This will be a 2 part series with Ava.

it’s important to first get a feel for how your children are already perceiving these events. Are they scared? Can they articulate what they’re scared about? Do they understand what’s going on?  We need to reassure our children that it is OK to be scared or concerned about these events and we should be honest with our answers.

It is important for us to listen to our children about their fears and their thoughts about the situation and give them a safe space to ask questions and express these feelings.   

 Raging Pandemic – 

  Ways to Help your children during the Pandemic 

• Role Model - model safe and good behavior and practice selfcare
• Be aware of your discussion about COVID-19
• Explain social distancing
• Be positive
• Establish and maintain a daily routine
• Identify projects and special things that might help others
• Offer lots of love and affection.

 Riot – 

Ways to help your children move thru their feelings regarding the Capitol Riots

Give kids a chance to tell you what they saw and ask questions. It’s important to get a sense of what they’re thinking and what they already know about what’s going on. 

• Validate their feelings: “I totally understand why this feels scary. Let’s talk about it.”
• Emphasize that what the rioters did was not effective, and that there are laws in place to ensure that there are consequences for what they did. 
• Help kids avoid black-and-white thinking. “When talking about the riot, keep it about the actions, rather than giving a label to people.

Potential Resources for talking to our children about the riots and racism 

• The Sesame Street Town Hall on Racism.
• The book “Something Happened in Our Town,” which discusses race-related violence in a developmentally appropriate way for 4 to 8 year olds.
• This anti-racism book collection for kids.
• Diverse book boxes.

The Children’s Community School: Social Justice Resources

• Parent Toolkit
• The Center for Racial Justice in Education