Activism & Politics

How sustainability today can help us prepare for tough times ahead

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / Leave a comment
Photo of a climate justice protest in Washington D.C. with trees, the White House, and the Washington Monument behind a gathered crowd on a rainy day

Endless hurricanes, wildfires, and flooding; astronomically high prices and low wages; biodiversity collapse – is this the future you expect for your kids in 30 years? For many of us concerned about climate change and social inequality, it seems like the future is going to be pretty grim. Some people are even going so far to think we’re going to be living in something out of a dystopia SF novel (if we’re not already).

But while being prepared for a legit natural or human-caused disaster is a good thing, hunkering down in despair isn’t. Honestly, our children deserve for us to at least try to turn this ship in the right direction. No one wants to tell their kids, “We didn’t bother trying because what was the point?”

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Talking to Kids About Labor Rights

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / Leave a comment

Cover of the children's book Click Clack Moo Cows Who Type with a cartoon of three cows and a chicken at a typewriter and the text below "Talking to Kids About Labor Rights"

“And make sure not to get Kelloggs,” I commented to my husband as we were putting together the grocery list.

“Why not Kellogg’s?” my older son said, looking up from his book.

“Well, the people who work for Kelloggs are on strike. That means they aren’t working because they want better work conditions, like better pay. Remember in Click Clack Moo: Cows that Type?” I explained, referencing a hilarious children’s book. In it, the cows and chickens go on strike and refuse to give the farmer eggs and milk until he gives them electric blankets. They use an old typewriter to express their concerns. We’ve read it a bunch of times.

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Juggling the Standards and Ambitions of Modern Parenting

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / Leave a comment

Juggling the Standards and Ambitions of Modern Parenting (Photo of a kid pulling a rope with another kid holding on to it)

“The house should be so much cleaner!” I think, panicked about my parents arriving any minute. That streak of panic occurs despite the fact that they know perfectly well that they’ve been the only people in our house since last March and that we’re not exactly the tidiest people by a long shot. Expectations are already low.

And yet I think this anyway. The self-judgment weighs hard, even when I push back against it. The hardest part is that I think this way about everything: cleaning, cooking, parenting, activism, writing, even taking care of myself. Perhaps worst of all, I suspect I’m not the only one.

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Why My Kids Won’t Believe the World is a Safe Place

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / Leave a comment
Photo: People with umbrellas and a sign that says "Our children are watching" Text: Why My Kids Won't Believe the World is a Safe Place
My children will not grow up thinking the world is a safe place.
I don’t want them to be constantly afraid, nervous of their every move. I don’t believe anyone who be subjected to that sort of trauma, even though so many children are every day.
But I do want them to know that there are people out there that hurt people different from them. People who want and choose to hurt people different from them because they are afraid of losing their own power. People who do things that inspire deep, justified fear in many of our neighbors, fellow church goers, and friends. And of course, people who are willing to look the other way from that first group of people because they don’t want to make a fuss.

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The One Question All Privileged Parents Should Ask at School Meetings

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / Leave a comment

Text: The One Question All Privileged Parents Should Ask at School Meetings Photo: "Focus 2: Facility utilization / School diversity / Proximity on left side and Objectives: Understand --- diversity and why it is important; Understand the range of socioeconomic and demographic dissimilarity across clusters. Diversity includes demographic diversity as well as socioeconomic diversity."

The exact numbers weren’t easy to read, but the graph lines showing the poll results were clear – the majority of the folks at the public meeting were white. Looking around the packed high school cafeteria confirmed that fact.

My mind returned to the graph we had seen a few moments earlier. In bright colors, it laid out the racial make-up of the students in my kids’ school district: 28% white, 31% Hispanic, 22% Black, 15% Asian, and 5% “other.”

Hmmmm.

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Why I Will Never Make My Kids Sit on Santa’s Lap

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / Leave a comment

No matter how much I want the photo, I’m never going to make my kids sit on Santa’s lap. 

Photo: Santa high-fiving a little girl (Text: Why I Will Never Make My Kids Sit on Santa's Lap)

“My kids are notorious for not wanting to take pictures with Santa,” I commented to the person waiting at the mall kiosk. She had just pointed out that we could have made reservations to see Santa instead of waiting in line. But there was no way I was having my mother-in-law pay $40 ahead of time for my two sons to then refuse to be in the picture.

I wasn’t exaggerating. The only photos we had of our kids with Santa were from when they were too young to care. They’re each less than a year old in their respective photos. But once they hit two? Nope, nada, absolutely not. They wouldn’t even go near him. At Sesame Place’s Christmas celebration, my then four-year-old wanted a photo with Elmo, but he was only posing with Santa. So my son planted himself solidly on the other side of Elmo, as far away from the big guy as possible.

But did I try to force them to do it anyway? Nope. I never tried to force them to sit on Santa’s lap. It’s for similar reasons I’ll never make them hug or kiss a relative – or anyone, really.

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