A Call to Action for Parents on Climate Change

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 2 Comments

A Call to Action for Parents on Climate Change; Photo: Painting of the Lorax in front of the White House

As I scrolled through Facebook the day President Trump announced America was leaving the Paris accords to address climate change, I couldn’t do anything but sigh and shake my head. As a long time climate change activist, I increasingly identify with the climate scientists sinking into despair the same way the West Antarctic ice sheet is. As there was nothing else I could do, I posted a screenshot of the Weather Channel that made me laugh. That evening, I stood out on my back deck, stared at the stars, and wondered what the hell we’re doing to our children’s future.

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The Good, Bad and Ridiculous of Camping with Little Kids

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / Leave a comment

Want to go camping with little kids but not sure how it will go? Learn from our experiences of camping with a one and four-year-old!

The Good, Bad and Ridiculous of Camping with Two Little Kids (Photo: Camping tent with toy recycling truck next to it)

Feeling the thump thump thump of a four-year-old’s kicking feet against my back and the cries of the one-year-old who did not want to be in the car any longer, I thought, “What the hell was I thinking trying to go camping with two kids?” We were still 45 minutes from our site and things were going very badly.

It had been almost two years since we had gone camping with our older son (nicknamed Sprout). It was the first time we went camping both him and his younger brother together. Even though the times with Sprout were chaotic, I felt like there was a genuine magic that makes all of the other nonsense worthwhile.

That magic eventually turned up on this trip as well. Fortunately, a couple of potty breaks and some whining later, I realized our camping trip turned out a hell of a lot better than I expected it would. Looking back reminds me of some of the questions we discuss with Sprout at bedtime: “What were your favorite things?” “What were you proud of?” and “What did you learn?” Here’s what the good, bad, and definite lessons learned were of camping with little kids.

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My Little Explorer

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 1 Comment

My Little Explorer / We'll Eat You Up, We Love You So; photo of two boys climbing a playground rock wall

Sitting at the top of our concrete stairs, Little Bird smiles down at me. Even though he doesn’t talk yet, his big grin says, “Look at me, Mama! Isn’t this awesome?” Used to my daredevil of a baby, I shake my head, smile back and hustle up the stairs before he gets the idea to climb down on his own.

I suppose it’s appropriate that one of my kids is a risk-taker. After all, exploration and adventure are some of my big values, in whatever form they come. My family stories overflow with risk, from biking around the world to immigrating to America. And I myself was a kid who never hesitated to put anything in my mouth and embraced the wildness of the outdoors. But all of that doesn’t make it any easier on my mental health.

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What I’ve Been Reading

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Spiderweb

I was going to post a photo of one of the local rabbits, but it was too blurry. So here’s a spider.

Lately, my mood has often wobbled between “exasperated” and “vaguely aggravated.” The world’s political situation is definitely affecting it. But on the other hand, I also got some amazing encouragement for my writing, so that rocked. I won’t say it all equals out in the end, but it’s nice when something pushes down on the scales a bit.

For this week, our articles cover why kids should talk to strangers, teaching kindness, truth telling around racism, and the beautiful challenges of parenthood.

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The Truth about Gardening with Kids and Children

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 5 Comments
The Truth about Gardening with Kids and Children - yes, all of these things will happen! (Photo: Pepper plant in garden surrounded by straw)

“Nononono,” I cry, sprinting over to Little Bird. He looks up, one dirty, guilty hand still at his mouth. His lips are lined with bits of dark brown. I looked down for just a moment to plant a pepper seedling. In that short period, he crawled over to the garden fence, stuck his hand in, and shoved a chunk of dirt right in his face. I sigh, wipe him off with the back of my hand, and rest him on my hip. Gardening with kids isn’t for the faint of heart. If you garden with young kids, all of these things will happen at some point:

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My Husband and “Me Time”

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"My Husband and 'Me Time' / We'll Eat You Up, We Love You So" Photo of rows of chairs in a movie theater.

“Going to the movies” read the text from my husband. I shook my head. He had told me earlier that he was planning to go to the movies, but it still annoyed me. Logically, he had every right to go. He had led one of our preschool’s clean-up days all morning, the kids and I were out, and he spends a ton of time with them as a stay-at-home dad. And yet, it still felt wrong. Whereas I and many other women would have used the free afternoon to tackle their to-do lists, his first (and probably only) thought was re-watching a movie he had already seen. In the world of 28 million blog posts about why moms should be taking “me time,” he was living the dream.

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Becoming a Family Cyclist

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 3 Comments

Text: "Becoming a Family Cyclist / We'll Eat You Up, We Love You So" Photo: Bicyclists standing in a group with their bicyclists in a park

Ants. So many ants. They were crawling all over the seat, fabric and metal bars of my bike trailer. I poked at the swarm with a leaf, but they just scattered. I sprayed them with Lysol, but that didn’t seem to faze them. Finally, after hearing many proclaimations of “Ew!”, Chris stepped in. After spraying the whole trailer with the hose and shaking it upside down, he declared that I would not be bringing Little Bird on his first ever bike ride that day.

Before I became a mother, I had dealt with a lot of problems on the bike, from flat tires to thigh-grinding hills. But never ant infestations. This was only one of the many times I’ve had to adapt one of my major passions after becoming a parent.

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How to Introduce Kids to Political Activism

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 7 Comments

Are your kids interested in world events and want to know more about political activism? Or are you getting more involved and want to explain why to your kids? Here’s how to introduce kids to political activism in an age-appropriate way. 

How to Introduce Kids to Political Activism. With all of the talk of activism, what's the best way to introduce the ideas to children? (Photo: Two kids walking next to each other; one has a sign on her back that reads 'We march for our wild and wonderful world.')

As I pinned a poster to the back of my friend’s jacket, I wondered how I was going to explain to my three-year-old where I was going that Saturday morning. From the couch, he was watching me and my two friends pile on every piece of warm clothing we could find.

“Mommy is going to let the people in charge know that we need to respect all people,” I told my son (nicknamed Sprout) that morning, the day of Women’s March. While I had been to my fair share of marches, it was the first I had gone to since he was born. As he was part of my reason for going, I thought he should know why.

Explaining what’s going on is even more important if you’re bringing your kids along to a political event. In the case of the People’s Climate March, I knew that I had a responsibility to explain to Sprout why we were bringing him and his younger brother along.

From explaining why I’ve missed dinner to testify to our City Council to marching down Pennsylvania Avenue, here’s what I’ve learned about introducing kids to activism:

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Learning to Be Away from My Children

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Text: "Learning to Be Away from My Children / We'll Eat You Up, We Love You So" Photo: Airplane wing overlapping with a sunset.

Bing! The chime on my phone rings, indicating a new message. It’s a video from Chris, reaching across the country to me while I’m on a work trip in New Mexico. It starts focusing on Sprout, being a lump on the couch with his red velour blanket over his head. The camera then swerves to Little Bird, who is walking towards it. Walking! When the hell did that happen? At that moment, I realized just how long a week away is when you have young children.

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