That's a most worthy anecdote.
I sometimes think in overly broad terms, but then again, sometimes I think of ANY child in my care as MINE. No matter that they have their own caring and devoted parents. When my kids were young and they had friends over or I was driving them all somewhere, or any of that, the minute they came into my orbit, they were MINE. I felt very protective and proprietary about them. Whether it was Cub Scouts or karate class or carpool, if I were the parent of record at that time, then they were, for all intents and purposes, MINE.
I find myself thinking that broadly about these wonderful kids - David, and Emma, and Cameron Kasky, and Tanzil Philip, and Melanie Weber, and Lorenzo Prado, and Samantha Fuentes, and Ryan Dietsch, and Delaney Tarr, and Alfonzo Calderon, and Kevin Trejos, and Chris Grady, and Adam Alhanti, and Sheryl Aquaroli, and all the other heroic young Stoneman Douglas High School students who've spoken up, spoken truth to power, shown extraordinary and exemplary courage and discipline and sense of commitment and poise - and have become volunteer leaders in this new mission. I was so impressed watching the coverage and watching these remarkable kids that I started making note of their names to remember them for later (when some of them might just be tempted to go all out and run for office).
As a mother, one of my biggest prevailing takeaways was - "you DON'T reward or reinforce bad behavior. You reward and reinforce GOOD behavior."
I intend to remember the names of these kids because when (and I'm certain, with at least a few of them, that it WILL be "when," and not "if" ) some of them decide to run for office, I plan to have campaign donations ready to go.
= new reply since forum marked as read
