I thought about this a lot, and honestly, I am of two minds here. On one hand, mothers should be able to participate in political action, and it's often true that the lack of community and childcare means they can't do that. That said, I wasn't able to attend the Hands Off protest in my red state suburb because I didn't have childcare. I…
I thought about this a lot, and honestly, I am of two minds here. On one hand, mothers should be able to participate in political action, and it's often true that the lack of community and childcare means they can't do that. That said, I wasn't able to attend the Hands Off protest in my red state suburb because I didn't have childcare. I didn't feel like my 2 and 4 year old could be adequately supervised in an environment with a lot of yelling, counterprotesting, and even some altercations. I expected that might happen, and it did. It seems sensible to me that any child who is too young to attend without a play structure nearby is likely too young to meaningfully understand, to keep themselves and others safe, and to be there.
I do think turning a protest into a block party somewhat undermines your ability to keep your wits about you and remember you are engaging in resistance, with its elements of risk. Also, if I were supervising my children in a bouncy castle, I don't think I would have been *doing the thing.* I might as well have taken them to a park.
There is a difference between inclusion/accessibility (is it physically possible to do this thing) and our preferences - and while there is overlap, I don't think we can say a protest is *inaccessible* to children if they're bored.
I echo the thought that communities should be thoughtful about childcare when planning political actions - and offer, say, a church/mosque/temple basement or community center for children whose parents want to participate. It's interesting to me that we don't consider that a form of resistance - caretaking is about as political as it gets.
I thought about this a lot, and honestly, I am of two minds here. On one hand, mothers should be able to participate in political action, and it's often true that the lack of community and childcare means they can't do that. That said, I wasn't able to attend the Hands Off protest in my red state suburb because I didn't have childcare. I didn't feel like my 2 and 4 year old could be adequately supervised in an environment with a lot of yelling, counterprotesting, and even some altercations. I expected that might happen, and it did. It seems sensible to me that any child who is too young to attend without a play structure nearby is likely too young to meaningfully understand, to keep themselves and others safe, and to be there.
I do think turning a protest into a block party somewhat undermines your ability to keep your wits about you and remember you are engaging in resistance, with its elements of risk. Also, if I were supervising my children in a bouncy castle, I don't think I would have been *doing the thing.* I might as well have taken them to a park.
There is a difference between inclusion/accessibility (is it physically possible to do this thing) and our preferences - and while there is overlap, I don't think we can say a protest is *inaccessible* to children if they're bored.
I echo the thought that communities should be thoughtful about childcare when planning political actions - and offer, say, a church/mosque/temple basement or community center for children whose parents want to participate. It's interesting to me that we don't consider that a form of resistance - caretaking is about as political as it gets.