mardi 7 mars 2017
Should We Teach Our Kids to Respect the President Even If We Don't?
A fan of President Donald Trump I am not and never have been. My daughter was old enough to know that I supported Hillary Clinton and was devastated by her loss. But that ship has sailed, we have a new president, and I find myself in a unique position as a parent of an almost 6-year-old daughter, who up until now, I've always taught to respect her elders, her teacher, her principal, and our country's leaders.
But is this president, a man who seems intent on eroding some of our most cherished American values, someone I want to teach her to respect just because of his title? Yes, we're all in uncharted territory, watching a president who seems intent on stripping civil rights, ignoring our nation's founding principles of inclusion and opportunity for all, and attempting to scare our people into following his misguided lead; a president whose narcissism and small mindedness is truly terrifying to behold.
I, for one, am mad. Mad that we elected this person to the highest office in our land, mad that our senators and congressman aren't doing more to stop his agenda, mad that because of his position, so many good people are scared to go to work and school or travel to see their families because they aren't sure they'll be able to make it home, and in my mind, America is and always should be their rightful home.
But is the outrage I feel appropriate to communicate to or even understandable for my daughter? Will teaching her that the President of the United States is someone I consider to be a vastly unqualified, dangerous blowhard have long-term effects that I can't currently predict? I just don't know.
A friend of mine, who like pretty much everyone that I know (call it a bubble, but I like living here) feels the same way I do, recently taught her daughters, ages 2 and 4, to chant some silly, but timely mantras like "Dump Trump" and "We hate Trump." The sayings made her kids laugh and made her feel slightly better in a time that has seemed, to so many of us, rife with bad news and negativity.
When her husband came home from work that night, the girls wanted to show off their new cheer, but he was not amused and told my friend that even though neither of them voted for Trump, it was important to teach their daughters that they should have respect for our nation's president.
Hearing this story, I initially had to agree. I do want to teach my daughter to respect the president, but upon further thought, I decided what I really wanted was for us to have a president worthy of her respect. And because I don't think that's the case, I want her to know that it's our right and democratic duty to express resistance.
Respecting our leaders is important, but doing what's right is so much more so. There's not one ounce of me that thinks revoking an order that lets transgender students use the bathroom they feel comfortable in, choosing an education secretary who is totally unqualified, using language that makes every child and adult immigrant feel as if they're going to be hunted down and deported, using despicable words about women, enacting a travel ban based on religion, or constantly lying about how popular you are is in any, way, shape, or form acceptable.
These things are so grossly unacceptable, in fact, that even a child should know the difference.
And when the wrongs that this administration is enacting are eventually righted - and I have to believe that they will be - I want my daughter to know I was on the right side of history. That respect lesson? It can come when we have someone in power who deserves it.
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