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which I considered posting on facebook, but just decided I don't need the aggravation....
Contrary to a lot of what I am reading on social media...as a mom who volunteers with high schoolers a lot...in general, our kids are intelligent. They are thoughtful. They have access to eons more information than we did at their age. They care deeply about the world they live in. Whether they walked out or stayed in to express their points of view, I applaud them for caring enough to have a voice in something that affects them personally.
They are also by and large kind and inclusive, and they care about their fellow classmates. I've witnessed them reach out when kids are struggling or alone. "Walking up" is great, being kind and inclusive are wonderful things and while I am sure bullying can and does go on, I also notice kids making these efforts on a regular basis.
We can't blame our teens for not being able to identify and "fix" seriously mentally ill, dangerous individuals. We adults aren't even all that great at it. There's a big difference between on odd or awkward kid who just needs a friend and a seriously disturbed kid who dreams of violence and kills animals for fun. We can't say, if only someone had sat with him at lunch, this never would have happened. That's way too simplistic, and blames kids for becoming victims of violence. It's not their job to identify and neutralize threats, it's ours.
Disclaimer: Like a lot of people, I made a Tide Pod joke here a few weeks ago. But the reality is, the vast majority of our kids are not dumb enough to eat Tide Pods, and they are also not mostly the self-centered, bullying, uneducated snowflakes that some are portraying them to be either.
The future may not look exactly like what some of us old folks might want it to, but it is their future.
Contrary to a lot of what I am reading on social media...as a mom who volunteers with high schoolers a lot...in general, our kids are intelligent. They are thoughtful. They have access to eons more information than we did at their age. They care deeply about the world they live in. Whether they walked out or stayed in to express their points of view, I applaud them for caring enough to have a voice in something that affects them personally.
They are also by and large kind and inclusive, and they care about their fellow classmates. I've witnessed them reach out when kids are struggling or alone. "Walking up" is great, being kind and inclusive are wonderful things and while I am sure bullying can and does go on, I also notice kids making these efforts on a regular basis.
We can't blame our teens for not being able to identify and "fix" seriously mentally ill, dangerous individuals. We adults aren't even all that great at it. There's a big difference between on odd or awkward kid who just needs a friend and a seriously disturbed kid who dreams of violence and kills animals for fun. We can't say, if only someone had sat with him at lunch, this never would have happened. That's way too simplistic, and blames kids for becoming victims of violence. It's not their job to identify and neutralize threats, it's ours.
Disclaimer: Like a lot of people, I made a Tide Pod joke here a few weeks ago. But the reality is, the vast majority of our kids are not dumb enough to eat Tide Pods, and they are also not mostly the self-centered, bullying, uneducated snowflakes that some are portraying them to be either.
The future may not look exactly like what some of us old folks might want it to, but it is their future.
