Answering Really Big Questions

GettyImages-1058757284crop486.jpg

Last month, when Greta Thunberg traveled to the US and spoke at the United Nations, she called out the adults of the world. She was very clear that the narrative we have placed on our kids – that they need to save the earth, these are their answers to seek – is grossly unfair. Backwards even. She argued passionately that everyone needs to take steps in the right direction and begin to make change. And she’s absolutely right: we owe it to our kids and their future kids.

Greta answered the questions we are sometimes afraid to ask.

If you’re anything like me, you might find the topic of climate change almost insurmountable, partly because of its scale. How can I change the whole world? And then there’s my action-item approach to pretty much anything: give me a list of To Dos and I can knock them off rapid fire. But with climate change, little things that I try to do at home – an LED bulb here and a reusable grocery bag there – feel like teeny tiny powerless gestures. It took a teenager to shake some sense into me (not the first time!). Even the scariest subjects need to be tackled in big and small ways. From every direction, really. Feeling small or overwhelmed isn’t a good enough excuse.

In the flurry of press that appeared when Greta was in town, I stumbled upon two particularly helpful articles: this PBS story reframed my thoughts around the impact of climate change on family mental health; and this plea from the American Academy of Pediatrics laid out what all child advocates must do for kids growing up in a warming world. Both provide talking points and action items. And perhaps most profoundly, both define climate change as a social justice issue.

The news feed is often dominated by enormous topics, some of which can be particularly hard to talk through with your kids. It’s why many parents avoid them altogether: they don’t want to freak their children out, plant seeds of anxiety, or go down a road that has no answers. But even in the face of humongous subjects, little compares to the power of open lines of communication. When a conversation is difficult – it can be about climate change or anything else – talk it through. Don’t know how to start? Ask questions. When you are the one being asked and you don’t know the answer, seek one. It’s why this newsletter was dedicated to conversation and Q+A: because in the world of parenting, literally everything is better if you talk it out.