When Runny Noses Get in the Way of Running Senators
by Erin Kotecki Vest

With a ticket in my hand for Senator Barack Obama’s Los Angeles rally, I weighed a new, personal dilemma; do I bring the kids???

As the mom voters gear up for ’08 many of us are finding ways to juggle activism and parenting. Is it smart or just plain insane to bring 2 and 4-year olds to a rally? Learning experience, or props for the media? Will I even hear the Senator over my daughter’s cries for more goldfish crackers?

As fate would have it, motherhood kept me from the rally entirely…the winter, kid ear infections took over and I spent the day administering antibiotics instead of hearing about economics. Such is motherhood and such is the life of a naptime activist.

Over at The Soccer Mom Vote, Tamara talks about her town of Austin’s Obama sighting, saying the Senator was hailed and vigorously applauded by an enthusiastic crowd, “I worry that oftentimes when people gather to hear someone speak, they want so much to hear what they want to hear, that they frequently applaud too soon. They hear ‘troops in Iraq’ or ‘the state of healthcare’ and instantaneously go nuts with the cheering and the hand-clapping before they hear anything of true substance from the speaker. I want more substance.”

Meanwhile Punditmom is actually courting a crowd mentality to check out what the Bush Administration is doing, “Programs that mostly impact children and families are getting an even shorter end of the stick through reduced funding than usual -- funding that those programs might never get back, even if a Democrat takes back the White House in 2008.
Aren't these few examples reason enough to start rallying the Get Out the Vote people?”

As I stayed home from the rally tending to my brood, I wondered how much we moms are missing having to juggle children and causes.

Amy at Equally Shared Parenting says its not a matter of balancing, so much as helping initiate change, "...fixing the out-of-balance lives of mothers is not going to be about teaching them techniques to keep their sanity - yoga classes, pampering, etc. Equal sharing isn't about such quick-fix techniques either. It is a whole new, egalitarian mindset that benefits men as much as it benefits women. After voting and working, it is the rest of our story."

So instead of feeling left out of my chance to attend a rally, I hopped on the web and signed petitions, forwarded articles, and donated. Learning along the way I could actually change the world while changing a diaper.

Contributing Editor Erin Kotecki Vest also blogs at Queen of Spain and the Huffington Post

Submitted by Erin Kotecki Vest (view blog) on Fri, 03/02/2007 - 12:20

Comments

 

Naptime activists

The thing is Erin, moms are the SINGLE MOST valuable voters for politicians! Moms can keep them accountable.

Submitted by Morra Aarons Mele on Fri, 03/02/2007 - 10:58
 

Activist kids

I remember attending my first protest a few year's back. I was expressing my outrage that the Haitian refugees seeking political asylum in the US were routinely denied while Cuban refugees were routinely granted asylum. The situation was rife for protest in that several Haitian families, children included, were languishing in South Florida prisons while their fate was decided. I thought it appropriate to bring my own children as the lives of the Haitian children were at stake. My cherubs, placards in hand, made the newspaper and the nightly news. It's never too early to get our children involved in the political process!

Submitted by cce on Fri, 03/02/2007 - 11:52
 

Quote of the DAY!

"So instead of feeling left out of my chance to attend a rally, I hopped on the web and signed petitions, forwarded articles, and donated. Learning along the way I could actually change the world while changing a diaper. "

Love it Erin. Great post. PunditMom is on fire!

And I utterly agree, cce. We are their future, they are ours, we may as well work together.

Best,
L

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

Submitted by Lisa Stone on Fri, 03/02/2007 - 13:06
 

The Activist Parent

Your post struck a chord, Erin, and brought to mind "The Activist Parent," a post I wrote on my Mombian blog. Reposted in shortened form here.

My own activism has indeed shifted since I became a parent. Now that I am staying home with my son, I no longer lead an LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) network of over 200 corporate employees. I attend fundraising dinners less often. My partner and I have continued to contribute money to several groups, although the amount has shrunk now that we’re on a single income and funding a college-savings account. I still e-mail my elected officials, but am even more grateful for the online forms that make this quick and easy.

I’ve also added some activism since becoming a mom. I maintain a blog for lesbian moms, and sometimes pester my readers about writing to their elected officials. I also go to local, non-LGBT children’s activities with my son. Those who meet him are charmed (parental bias, I know), and once they find out I’m a lesbian, they’re stuck with the image of a happy, cared-for child in a lesbian home. It’s a kind of quiet activism to gain the support of the unbiased but unknowing, as I’ve written elsewhere. The daily safety, care, and feeding of my family comes first as a matter of practicality, but equality and justice have become even more important now that they also affect the well-being of my son. My activism has changed, yes. I may not go to the Pride Parade if it’s during naptime. But ceasing to help build the world I want my son to live in means failing as a parent.

Mombian: Sustenance for Lesbian Moms
http://www.mombian.com

Submitted by drudolph on Sun, 03/11/2007 - 16:42
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