Page 20 - Parents Magazine (December 2019)

LET’S GET REAL

• AT LEAST
THER E’S THIS
Meditations for Parents KUDOS TO

Let’s zen out, shall we? INCLUSIVE KIDS’

SHOWS!
SCHOOL DROP- OFF IN THE CAR, HIS
Breathe in, breathe out. LOVEY LEFT BEHIND
Release the tension in Bring your attention to the
your body, which has all wailing in the backseat,
coalesced in your wrestling as you have no choice.
grip on the steering Notice your partner
wheel. Redirect your driving while smiling a Molly of Denali
thoughts from the one car strange smile, having (PBS Kids) Ten-year-old
that needs to pull up already mentally relocated Molly Mabray, from
just 2 feet so everyone to a swim-up bar in Tahiti. Alaska’s Gwich’in,
behind it can let their kids Every time your mind Koyukon, and Dena’ina
out but doesn’t. Notice strays to self-blame, focus tribes, stars in
the mom double-parked at instead on the now. this first-ever national
the front of the drop-off This is the moment to children’s show to
line, blocking the exit for choose between having a feature Native American • LESSON FROM M Y
all other vehicles, applying forlorn child for the next leads. When she LITTLE ONE
mascara. Open your mind. 48 hours or taking a isn’t helping her parents
Think:“Perhaps she has detour back to Cleveland. at the trading post, In the Garden With
a very tiny bathroom with Molly vlogs for kids in
no mirrors.” STUCK IN ONE ROOM the “lower 48” about Grandma
AT THE CHILDREN’S things like Alaskan ice
TARGET ON A MUSEUM cream, called nivagi. THERE’S SOMETHING extra special about the
SATURDAY Keep thinking, “It’s Ages 4 to 8
Take a moment to consider educational,” even if it relationship between a grandmother and a
how this situation came looks like a playroom with grandchild. Grandparents don’t necessarily
about, then stuff these acoustics that make have to deal with the hard stuff that parents
thoughts into an imaginary it seem as if the kids are
reusable bag in your mind screaming in your own do, but they love you just as fiercely. Or at
because you forgot to head. Watch your least, mine did. So when my grandmother
bring any real ones. Form daughter stick her hands Bluey passed away a little less than two years ago,
a game plan, knowing it into a stream of running (Disney Junior)
will completely fall apart water with 17 other Sisters Bluey and Bingo grief hit me hard. She lived down the street
when you walk in and children to grab a well- pretend they’re from me when I was a kid, she came to every
see a pack of Chewbacca worn rubber duck. Exhale. everything from hotel one of my school events (she had a box of
notebooks for $1. Have Say: “Germs are necessary managers to butterflies. saved programs to prove it), and we always
your family repeat the to build immunity.” Sit on Their dad, Bandit,
mantra: “We just need what you think is a normal bucks traditional celebrated our day-apart birthdays together.
lightbulbs.” When that stool until a 3-year-old gender norms as the In the weeks that followed her death, our
mantra becomes “We need spins the seat, making family’s master family grieved by keeping each other as close
lightbulbs. And a blender you rise unsteadily toward laundry folder who
and an inflatable pool and the rafters. Let a smile fill isn’t afraid to as possible. That meant my own mom, my
that funny Minion T-shirt,” your face. Shout, “We’re admit when he’s wrong. toddler son, Weston, and I spent a lot of time
channel your acceptance learning physics!” Ages 4 to 6 together. One afternoon, I watched from BOTTOM LEFT: PRISCILLA GRAGG. MIDDLE, FROM TOP: EVERETT COLLECTION; COURTESY OF THE SHOW; EVERETT COLLECTION. TOP RIGHT: COURTESY OF THE SUBJECT.
that this will cost you.
—Sarah Schmelling inside my house as my mom, an avid gardener,
1
worked in the yard with her 1 / 2-year-old
grandson beside her. She helped him push
little plants into the ground, and they crinkled
Steven Universe up their noses as they smelled the different
(Cartoon Network)
As a half-human, potted herbs together. She patiently let
half-Gem superhero Weston take the reins on watering the new
whose powers emanate buds. I smiled, as I knew this scene all too
from his belly button, well. My grandma had shared many of her
Steven knows what it’s
like to feel different. own special little hobbies with me.
Acceptance is a theme Watching Weston, I knew things would
of this action comedy never be the same, but they would be okay.
that features inclusive
characters like Ruby He, in all his innocence, would move our
and Sapphire, whose family forward. I’ll still get to experience the
2018 marriage was the relationship between a grandparent and a
first same-gender
wedding on children’s grandchild, but now it will be by watching
television. Ages 6 to 11 my son and my mom.
—Leslie Goldman —Liz Schnabolk

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