5.11: Love in a Time of Crisis: Parenting & Activism
First Name Basis Podcast
Jasmine Bradshaw
5 • 629 Ratings
🗓️ 2 March 2022
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When something tragic happens, we often look to those around us — whether it’s people we know in real life, people we listen to on the news or people we follow on social media — to help us process and understand what’s going on.
And there’s a phrase I’ve seen pop up over and over again among influencers (specifically white people on social media who consider themselves parenting experts) that makes me want to lose my mind.
“What you need to be doing right now is loving your children.”
Don’t get me wrong: Loving your family is and always will be important. But when they say that, are they encouraging you to do anything differently than what you are already doing? To change anything? To take action to make the world a better place?
If your favorite parenting expert is telling you to do nothing and you believe them, you’re selling yourself short.
What I want to help you see through this episode is loving your family and activism go hand in hand. You have so much power to model what it means to be an activist, to teach your children to make a difference and to invite them to take action right along with you — all of which is one of the best things you can do for these little humans that you love so dearly.
Diverse Book Challenge
It’s National Reading Month, and we want to help you celebrate!
For years, National Reading Month and Read Across America Day has been celebrated on or near March 2, which is Dr. Seuss’ birthday. The day has served not only as a time to encourage children to read, but as a day to honor and revere Dr. Seuss — which, because of his racist work and attitudes, is inappropriate.
The sentiment behind this celebration — fostering a love of reading in children and emphasizing resources available to help facilitate that — has always been and will always be important, but it is time to pivot in how we celebrate this holiday.
First Name Basis is here to help. We’ve compiled resources to help you and your kiddos celebrate reading with an emphasis on authors and books that encourage inclusivity and highlight diversity.
Trust me, this is a resource you’re going to want!
Click here to get the resources sent straight to your inbox.
Ally Elementary
Ally Elementary registration opens up again on March 29, and we’re also excited to announce that we will be launching our new program, Ally Elementary Jr., for kids in preschool through second grade at the same time.
To join our waitlist and be notified when registration is open, visit firstnamebasis.org/waitlist.
Articles, Studies & Podcasts Referenced in the Episode
First Name Basis Podcast, Season 3, Episode 20: “5 Tips for Talking to Children About News”
First Name Basis Podcast, Season 2, Episode 6: “The Untold Story of Dr. Seuss”
First Name Basis Podcast Season 2, Episode 5: “A Conversation With My Dad About Black History Month” with my dad Ken Clarke
First Name Basis Podcast, Season 2, Episode 26: “My Working Mom: Chasing Her Dreams” with my mom Dr. Leslie Telfer
First Name Basis Podcast, Season 3, Episode 17: “Ask Dr. Leslie Telfer (aka my mom)”
First Name Basis Podcast, Season 3, Episode 15: “A Survival Guide for Women in Male-dominated Fields” with my sister, Nina Clarke-Telfer
First Name Basis Podcast, Season 3, Episode 21: “How to Teach Media Literacy to Our Children”
“How to Raise a Reader” by Pamela Paul and Maria Russo of The New York Times
“Role Model the Behavior You Want to See From Your Kids” by Amy Morin
Support Ukrainian People With Disabilities in Crisis
Song Credit: “Sleeper” by Steve Adams” and “Dive Down” by VYEN
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the First Name Basis podcast, Season 5, Episode 11. |
| 0:05.8 | Love in a Time of Crisis, Parenting and Activism. |
| 0:16.8 | Teaching our children to be inclusive and anti-racist starts with us within the sacred walls of our home. |
| 0:25.0 | First name basis is designed to empower you with the confidence you need to be a leader in your family and a changemaker in your community. |
| 0:33.1 | Together, we will wrestle with hard questions and use the answers to create the world we want, |
| 0:39.1 | a world that reflects our values of inclusion, compassion, and courage. |
| 0:44.5 | I'm your host, Jasmine Bradshaw, and I am so excited to be on this journey with you. |
| 0:52.3 | Hello, First Name Basis, fam. I am so glad you are here. Thank you. Hello, First Name Basis fam. I am so glad you are here. If you haven't taken a deep |
| 0:59.9 | breath in a while, this is your reminder to do so. Things have been so heavy, so hard. And I actually had to ditch our original idea for this week's episode. And I'm going to ditch our original idea for this week's episode |
| 1:14.4 | and switch it out with something that speaks a little more to what we're seeing go on in the |
| 1:19.6 | world. So first of all, I have to give a trigger warning because we're going to be talking about |
| 1:25.0 | the war that Russia has started in Ukraine and we're going to be talking about the war that Russia has started in Ukraine, and we're going |
| 1:29.2 | to be talking about racism. But I do want to say that I'm not going to be giving any details about |
| 1:34.2 | the war in Ukraine. I just am going to be referencing it a lot. So if it's something that's really |
| 1:39.5 | heavy for you right now, I understand if you need to step away, but just know that I'm feeling it right |
| 1:46.5 | alongside you. I actually have a couple of Ukrainian family members. My aunt and my cousin are |
| 1:53.6 | both from Ukraine. And every time I hear someone talk, especially a woman, a Ukrainian woman speak on the news or in an interview |
| 2:03.2 | or in a video or something. I just hear my aunt's voice and it's been really, really awful. |
| 2:10.9 | So I hope this episode gives you some ideas about how you can help and how you can serve |
| 2:16.2 | in the world right now when it's looking so scary. |
| 2:19.8 | So as you can tell, today we are talking specifically about how parents can respond and things |
| 2:25.2 | that we can do when awful things are happening in the world, which is kind of a lot. |
... |
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