When you’ve got kids, you have to think for the long haul (saving for college, drafting a will, etc.) and for the short term (sweet-lord-a-mercy get me through this day). And since the short term is so much more immediate and constant and all up in our business, we tend to develop a sort of myopia for the long view, which we hope will somehow take care of itself.
It totally won’t.
Since Election Day is Tuesday, we spent a lot of time this week perusing all the content produced by parents throughout the political spectrum. There is much at stake, and while it’s human nature to want immediate results, in reality the real effects of this mid-term election will fall to the future, our children, and their children, and whoever else inhabits this place long after we’re gone.
We were particularly struck by this piece from Patrick Coleman at Fatherly, who says the best way to drown out the partisan bickering that dominates political discourse it to stick to a startlingly simple maxim: “Will my vote help my kid?”
A vote from a parenting perspective is a vote for the longview. It’s about investing in resources (education, housing, food security) that most of our kids rely on to become functioning adults. If a strong domestic agenda is important to you (and we’re seeing a lot of that lately), then casting a vote as a proxy for your kid cleans up a lot of confusion.
Like Coleman, we believe parents can be the steadying influence we all need if we can find strength in each other and marshal whatever resources we have in order to stay calm amid the chaos. We need, in short, “to act like parents.”
IN THE NEWS
In Scotland, only 4% of the “daycare of children workforce” is male. They are trying to change that.
Like receiving unsolicited advice from strangers? Try parenting in public.
In the UK, despite studies showing the many benefits of encouraging engaged, active fathers, shared parental leave for dads is often frowned upon.
“Experts agree that reading diversely with children is important, particularly books that show positive representations across cultures, genders, and races.”
“I’m trying to model for my kids: how I give myself some spaces throughout the day to have my own feelings. How to be with people. . . How I look for chances to do good.”
“Almost every parent of a teen turns around and thinks, ‘Wait, what happened?'”
Want to keep the family healthy through flu season and beyond? Consider these helpful tips.
There is an endless sea of competition for our kids’ viewing entertainment. What makes a show right for your child?
Want to up your paper plane game and impress the kids? Of course you do.
PORCHLIGHT POSTS
- “Being a dad is the toughest job I ever had—and I’ve had many. The hours suck, you don’t get weekends off, and the boss is extremely demanding.” – Frank Priegue, Nine Things I Learned Since Becoming a Parent
- “It’s amazing how pious prospective parents can be, before the reality of dealing with a little human actually hits.” – Chris McGuire, How Much TV is Too Much for Kids
- “Over this past year I’ve had to completely deconstruct what it means to be a man and what it means to be a mom.” – Dean Rasmussen, Gender Discovery is a Treacherous Journey
- “I didn’t want to write that a celebration of life was interrupted by a man whose sole purpose in that moment was to perpetuate death.” – Aaron Yavelberg, I Didn’t Want to Write About This
- “If you’ve ever been to a pumpkin patch, you are familiar with a vast overwhelming pasture of promise. You approach the patch with the belief that the perfect pumpkin is there.” – Creed Anthony, Pumpkin Patch Illustrates the Many Choices We Make in Parenting
‘GRAM OF THE WEEK
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