Moms Talk: How to Use Madison Protests as Teaching Lesson

First of all, I admit I am not a mom. I am the farthest thing from a mom. Sure, I will take care of my nieces and nephew for a few hours here or there and smile at the little kids who are happily playing in the park as I am taking a stroll around the Fox River.

Coming from a big family, I have changed plenty of diapers, wiped a lot of runny noses and taken my youngest sister for those late night drives through the country to get her to fall asleep (she is significantly younger than me).

But when it comes to teaching moments and explaining state and national issues to a group of children, I am useless.

So how do you teach your children about the protests in Madison? How do you explain to them both sides of the issue to explain why the governor is proposing his budget and why the teachers and other union employees are protesting in mass?

I don’t have the answer. But I do know that with the Waukesha School District’s policy against promoting politics in the classroom, the teachers can’t explain to the children at their levels what the budget repair bill means.

It is up to the parents in Waukesha to teach their children what this bill means. For this week’s Moms Talk, I wanted to reach out to the parents. How do you teach your children about this bill.

But like I said, I don’t have the answer.

So who did I turn to? Who still has four children under the age of 18 living at home? Whose advice did I sometimes (but not always...) heed as a younger teenager?

Oh, hey Mom.

I asked my mom to put together a few thoughts about how you could teach a child about the Madison protests.

This is what she said:

Younger children

• Consider the children’s safety and don’t take them to the protests to see the Capitol. If you are watching the protests on TV and a violent, scary situation does break out, point out to the children all the people who are helping, such as rescue workers and police.

Reassure your grade school children that they don’t have to make a decision on the issue and that they don’t have to take sides if their parents disagree with their teacher.

“Say that sometimes adults disagree with each other and that is OK,” my mom said.

Older children

• Teach the children that we are privileged and blessed that we live in a country where we can disagree with our rulers and politicians. Not all countries have that option.

• Teach your children the differences between a democracy and a dictatorship. A dictatorship might be efficient when it comes to getting laws passed, but there are disadvantages.

• Advocate responsibility. Here is a chance to teach your children about work ethic and the importance of doing the job that you agreed to do.

• The Democratic senators are doing everything they can to stop a law that they do not believe in. Share with your children why they feel that way and why they are taking actions to keep the bill from passing. Do the same for the Republicans who are looking to approve the governor's budget repair bill. Explain why the governor is proposing the bill.