Global Climate Strikes: My Kids Participated in a Climate Strike & Here's Why I Supported Them by Dawn Taylor

My two teenage daughters, 14 and 15, told me that they were going to walk out of school for the Global Climate Strike. They didn't ask for permission. They knew they didn't have to. I am raising them to make decisions and the right to protest is theirs. As long as they are safe and things would be organized, there was no need to interfere.

On the drive to school today, they talked about other schools in our area who had threatened detentions if kids walked out. I told them that kids miss school for many reasons, and to punish kids who wanted to take part was wrong.

To those who say they are missing educational opportunities by walking out, I say this opportunity is an important educational opportunity. Kids feel strongly about the world they are growing up in, and only they and their children will be involved in making it a better place. They are truly our only hope and by teaching them how to protest and be activists for change, we are educating them in the most important ways.

With their friends they made posters, and led by a teacher, today they walked out and then returned to the classroom for the rest of the day wearing signs that explained their decision to be silent for the school day.

Silence for the day. A voice for the future. 

Every child can be heard. Sometimes it takes one generation to take care of the next.

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