Some bad things that are happening

Parenting during the fascist takeover of America

• The fascist uprising has begun. Military police in riot gear are storming peaceful protests in a major US city. Our democracy has fallen.

• Our scooter helmet is too tight and the clip ALMOST pinched the little silky flubber under our chin. It was scary when that happened, but we are okay. We need to wear our helmet every day to protect our head. If we need to take a break and take deep breaths we can do that. But we have to wear our helmet for safety. Even if it makes us sad.

• Members of the US National Guard are shooting rubber bullets at journalists.

• Our favorite scooter parking spot outside our school is taken by another scooter. We have to park it on the slidey part of the sidewalk where it has to go sideways, and even though that is not our favorite spot, it is okay, and we can be flexible. If we are early tomorrow, maybe we can get the spot right next to the door.

• The president has ordered a $45 million military parade in celebration of his birthday.

• Yes, it looks like Mama packed the wrong kind of apple sauce pouch for snack. We do not like the apple-strawberry flavor. Even though it is not the apple sauce we usually have, this is also VERY yummy apple sauce and we can try it. Look! There is even a strawberry wearing sunglasses on the pouch? Is he dancing? That’s silly. And! If we try it, maybe we will like it. If we do not like it, tomorrow we can go to the store and get the old kind of apple sauce.

• ICE agents are raiding elementary school graduations.

• Hooray it is pickup! Mama loves you SO much. Uh oh - our best friend is running down the stairs faster than us? Yes, that is frustrating. He doesn’t have to wait for us because everybody can go at their own pace. It makes us said that Ozzy is going so fast, but if we hold the banister we can also go a little bit faster, as long as we are safe.

• People who show up for scheduled naturalization interviews are being taken away from their families in handcuffs.

• It is nap time! We read two books, because we read two books every day before nap, because that is the rule. Even though both books were Elephant and Piggie, they are two different Elephant and Piggies, and it doesn’t mean we get a third book. Every day we read two books before nap, and we do three before bedtime. If we keep reading books, our body will not get good rest. It is sad that we cannot read a third book, but when we wake up from our nice, long nap, we can snuggle and read another book. We can pick the wakeup book now so that we know we have it for later.

• Parents are weeping in parking lots as plainclothes ICE agents rip their children from their arms and put them into unmarked cars.

• Ok. Here we are again. We have to wear the helmet to scoot to gymnastics. If we do not wear the helmet, we cannot scoot. We can walk to gymnastics, but we will be late because we napped for such a nice, long time. The helmet is very important. The world is very, very dangerous. We are very lucky that we have a nice, safe helmet. We are lucky that Mama can put the helmet on our head and keep us safe. We are lucky that today you can scoot from our block to gymnastics and there are not rubber bullets flying at our bodies.

  We are lucky we are “we.” We are so, so lucky we are “we” and I get to hold you when you are sad or scared and you get to hold me when you are sad or scared. You are lucky that I am kneeling here with my knees on the pavement and I can put my finger between the helmet clip and your soft, little pudding chin and make sure that if anything gets pinched, it’s my finger and not your chin. I will keep your body safe. We are lucky that I can do that right now. We are so, so lucky. When you scoot down the sidewalk in your good, snug helmet you are the safest, luckiest child in an unsafe world. I do not know what will happen to you in the future or what any of this will look like, but right now here we go. Here we go.