{"id":2978,"date":"2021-06-10T08:01:38","date_gmt":"2021-06-10T07:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/?p=2978"},"modified":"2021-06-10T08:46:29","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T07:46:29","slug":"children-of-the-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/children-of-the-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Children of the Revolution: On Parenting and Protest<\/span>Christiana Spens<\/span>"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Why are we here, Mummy?\u2019 My four year-old son asked, as we joined the swathes of Extinction Rebellion protesters in Glasgow\u2019s George Square in September 2019. \u2018The ice caps are still melting. This isn\u2019t really going to help the polar bears, is it?\u2019<\/p>\n

I was slightly taken aback. Caspian had always been fascinated by wild creatures. He devoured books about extinct and endangered animals, went vegetarian on his own initiative, and watched nature documentaries religiously. His every instinct seemed in synch with XR\u2019s aims, and he regularly talked about wanting to help the animals and environment. Until, that is, he came to his first actual protest, bearing a sign almost as tall as he was, with \u2018Strike!\u2019 on one side and \u2018I Love My Mother Earth\u2019 on the other.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Despite having written an entire book on protest and the media<\/a> I struggled to answer his question.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s about letting people know what\u2019s happening,\u201d I answered as he looked around at the other children. \u2018It\u2019s about getting people to come together to make changes, to ask people in power to make changes that will help stop the ice melting and help the animals.\u2019<\/p>\n

As Caspian shrugged off my answer, I saw he\u2019d drawn the attention of some photographers. I wasn\u2019t sure about strangers taking his photo, as he seemed uncomfortable, so we moved off and I took my own pictures instead. He was excited to see a few pupils from his class, and he admired the large stone lions at the edge of the square. But as time went on he grew fractious in the searing autumn heat.<\/p>\n

\u2018Well that\u2019s why we\u2019re here too, isn\u2019t it?\u201d I tried to explain. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about animals. It\u2019s about climate change too.\u201d But it immediately felt unfair, burdening him with further grief: he was serious enough as it was. \u2018Let\u2019s get an ice-cream,\u2019 I offered, and we left the square. Caspian dragged his sign along the ground, then asked me to carry it. We found a caf\u00e9. Distracted by ice cream, his questions stopped. The protest really hadn\u2019t interested him at all. Yet I was still surprised. Why?<\/p>\n

Afterwards, I thought about the book I\u2019d written. While it wasn\u2019t critical of protest,<\/em> it strove to take a wider view, and see protest as one tool among many for the political activist. I realised, in the wake of George Square, that this applies to children, too \u2013 perhaps especially to young children who are easily intimidated by large gatherings.<\/p>\n

A big protest, at such a young age, had been a bit overwhelming for Caspian. It hadn\u2019t suited him – and perhaps he raised some valid points as to its efficacy, too. He had every right to. I shouldn\u2019t have assumed he\u2019d find the experience valuable or enjoyable.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, there are plenty of alternatives to mass protest. For younger age groups, taking part in online events can be a great way to feel a sense of community and to learn more about the issues without being thrown into potentially overwhelming situations – of particular importance to children who struggle with anxiety. As a parent, too, it can seem risky to take children to protests when there is always some potential that they will become rowdy or dangerous, especially in the current political climate, with more restrictive laws and violent reactions.<\/p>\n

Children can write letters to political representatives, though, and send pictures to their favoured protest groups, or get involved in school-based awareness campaigns and initiatives such as tree-planting, litter-picking. Or they can simply educate themselves and their friends about the issues we all face.<\/p>\n

Nowadays Caspian\u2019s preferred way to be involved \u2013 which in a way I\u2019d known all along \u2013 is through art, writing and learning.<\/p>\n

Whatever his eventual thoughts on the effectiveness of physical protest, and his own role in that particular form of political activism, he\u2019s had an experience that he\u2019ll always remember, and still talks about, as he patches together his political awareness and learns to use his own freedom and agency.<\/p>\n

For my part, I have learnt to respect how every individual has their own journey, and always will. Caspian now wants to be a film-maker, and recently wrote his own comic book, \u2018Sad Times\u2019, in which the world ends, but the aliens save the last of the humans.<\/p>\n

Whichever way his story goes, I am glad that protest formed part of his education, and gave him a grounded understanding that he\u2019s not alone in his concerns. For me, that\u2019s one of the most crucial and valuable roles of protest in all its forms: the knowledge that our beliefs, our compassion, our concern for the future, and in our intention to continue, are common, and global.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dr. Christiana Spens<\/strong> is the author of Shooting Hipsters: Rethinking Dissent in the Age of PR<\/em><\/a> (Repeater Books) and The Portrayal and Punishment of Terrorists in Western Media<\/em><\/a> (Palgrave Macmillain). She writes for publications such as The Irish Times, Prospect, Aeon\/Psyche <\/em>and Studio International. <\/em>Her website is www.christiana-spens.com<\/a> and her Twitter is @christianaspens<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Why are we here, Mummy?\u2019 My four year-old son asked, as we joined the swathes of Extinction Rebellion protesters in Glasgow\u2019s George Square in September 2019. \u2018The ice caps are still melting. This isn\u2019t really going to help the polar bears, is it?\u2019 I was slightly taken aback. Caspian had always been fascinated by wild […]<\/p>\n

Read More… from Children of the Revolution: On Parenting and Protest<\/span>Christiana Spens<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2985,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[443,442,444,17,445],"yoast_head":"\nChildren of the Revolution: On Parenting and Protest - Writers Rebel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/children-of-the-revolution\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Children of the Revolution: On Parenting and Protest - Writers Rebel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u2018Why are we here, Mummy?\u2019 My four year-old son asked, as we joined the swathes of Extinction Rebellion protesters in Glasgow\u2019s George Square in September 2019. \u2018The ice caps are still melting. 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