School Walkout...

There was a school walkout to peacefully protest arming teachers on March 14th. I did not tell the boys what actually happened in Florida's school shooting or that there have been several school shootings because they would worry. I want going to school to feel safe for them both and they already have fears because of all the school lock down drills they have to do through the year.

But I did start the conversation before the walk out about how kids are making a difference in our world and that they want to be heard. I told them there was a really sad event that happened in Florida and those kids that lived through it want all schools across the country to be safe. We talked about standing up for what you believe in and standing up for other people too. It tied in very well with all the Black History stories they both heard during the month of February. That brave people stood up for what they believed in and even though it wasn't easy, they persisted and change began.

They weren't sure if they would walk out or not. I didn't push them one way or the other but I wanted them to know what was going to happen on March 14th because they are curious boys. The night before the walkout Lucius got really nervous and thought something bad was going to happen. Thankfully I did not have to work till later in the day so I told him I would come to school and check in with him. Once there he told me he was fine and wanted me to leave him be. He and a good friend choose to walkout together.

I was in Oliver's classroom when his teacher mentioned the walkout. She told the kids that she was going to walk out for kindness and to stand up to bullies. There was a brief mention about violence in the world and how she wanted to walk out to say that she was against violence. She told the kids they had the choice to go out with her or stay inside to read (all students who choose not to go out had supervised reading time). Almost all of Oliver's class choose to walk out for show that they didn't want violence or bulling in their school.

I love that my kids are learning a lot about the world in their school. They are learning a ton about showing kindness because of the examples of their teachers. We talked about how grownup sometimes don't listen to kids just because they are kids. There are a lot of kids who have some pretty amazing ideas if we only took the time to listen. I hope my kids see that the world can be changed when people learn to listen to each other and work together to make our world a better place.