Read on Twitter
I spent yesterday feeling frightened and paralyzed by what I've long known to be frightening and and paralyzing for children: the sense that things are *out of control* and that there is *no grownup in the room.*
What use is this insight? 1/6
What use is this insight? 1/6
For starters, I feel better just putting words to it, and I think it helped my 10-year-old to hear me to say, "I know that yesterday was totally out of control and there was no 'grown-up in the room.' I'm hopeful that things may now be moving in the right direction." 2/6
Second, it helps me to remember that *I* am a grown-up in the "room" of my own life and in the "room" of our own home. 3/6
In my own life, that means setting aside the false belief that compulsively checking media (social and otherwise) will help me regain a sense of control. I'm just going to try do my job instead. 4/6
In our own home, it reminds me that being a grown-up does *not* mean being able to solve things (the problems we are facing - the virus, the rioting - are well beyond my immediate power). 5/6
It means being calm and predictable, meeting the needs I'm here to meet, having rules and logical consequences, and being honest with my kids about what I do and don't know, what I understand and am still struggling to understand.
That's where I'm starting today. 6/6
That's where I'm starting today. 6/6
