Raising My Little Socially Aware Activists

I was able to travel to Madison this weekend for the rallies opposing Governor Scott Walker’s budget repair bill. One of the highlights of the trip was listening to Jesse Jackson speak. Amazing. I never would have thought back in school when I learned about the Civil Rights Movement that I would someday hear that man speak. I truly feel like I have witnessed something historical. The other highlight was introducing my children to the right to protest. Lydia asked many questions and I tried to answer them as honestly as possible. “Mommy is going to Madison because she’s upset that Scott Walker wants to take away things, like money, that our family needs. (I didn’t get into the whole union thing). I’m going to go to Madison and hope that he listens.”

My mom watched the girls on Friday night while I went down to the Capitol. After my experiences Friday night, I knew it would be very safe to bring them on Saturday. I got some supplies to make a sign and Lydia told me she wanted to make one too. She wanted her’s to say, “Scott Walker change your mind!” On the other side, we wrote “Princesses for teachers,” and made a similar sign for Audrey.

Lydia asked me if Scott Walker would steal from us when we went to the Capitol, and I told her he wouldn’t. She asked how many dollars he wanted to take, and I told her a lot. She excitedly asked me, “Mommy, what if Scott Walker listens to my sign and takes ZERO dollars?!?!?!,” and I told her that would be great. She asked me if Scott Walker was there too, and I told her he wasn’t. She asked why he wasn’t there, and I told her because most of the people there didn’t like him, and people don’t want to be around people who don’t like them. She said, “Not even Santa Claus likes Scott Walker.”

The girls stood with me for about two hours and held their signs high and proud. They complained a bit, and I told them they didn’t have to hold the signs, and they would go stomp away in the snow, and then come back to hold their signs more. Dozens of people took their pictures and cheered, “Hooray for princesses!” and they ate it up. As we left, Audrey insisted on walking, not riding in the stroller, and held her sign for everybody to see as she walked. It was a proud moment.