This. This is why we need Onward!
Comedian, Dena Blizzard shares her raw emotion about raising a daughter with anxiety who doesn’t fit the average mold that our school systems are designed for. This hits so close to home for me. I shared recently in a blog on Bright Morning about my experience of raising a son who exemplifies learner variability and how our school system is not setup for him to succeed. And yet, resilience is what helped us both thrive these last 10 years. Being able to breath and practice mindfulness as we navigated through the world of therapy and insurance companies. Finding the joy in the simple things while also becoming an expert learner on how his brain processes.
At times in the video, I can just hear the resilience in her voice. Her strength, vulnerability and courage coming in loud and clear through her crying and mix of emotions as she advocates for change. Parenting is tough. In this video, Dena shares, “I don’t know that our children ever know how many times we cry in a parking lot, anywhere, or in our bathroom.” Chapter 2 of Onward helps us understand our emotions and process them in a way to build our resilience. As parents, this is critical to be able to thrive. And chapter 4 on building community and the disposition of empathy teaches us that we are stronger together. I just love how Dena ends her video: ”Do me a favor and talk about it with somebody because they might be having a day.”
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There are so many parents who experience this pain and frustration. We have to be better about addressing the needs of the individual child. It starts with knowing that child deeply and taking the time to understand how they learn. Thanks for posting this, Janet!
You are welcome! It just makes me think that we have to teach our students who are marginalized for whatever reason to cultivate resilience. I have seen it first hand with my own son, JT 🙂 He has been able to grow and thrive in large part to the resilience he has built. Thanks for being one of the educators that cares deeply about every child!