Parenting Porcupines

Most districts have been back at school for nearly two months now. 

• Are your kids in-person or virtual, and what has the experience been like so far?
• How are your schools handling contact?
• Are we better at it than we were last year?

We are hearing so many tales of unruly parents like this story of parents yelling at school board members. But also hearing stories like this one from 2020’s election cycles when parents began running for School Board seats to make a difference.

• What are the concerns and complaints you are hearing from other parents?
• What are the concerns and complaints you are hearing from your kids’ teachers and staff?

We are not unsympathetic to people who work in this environment when they feel their own health is at risk, but this year we know much more than we did last year about this virus and ways to prevent transmission, and also you can be vaccinated if you choose to do so. As Libertarians, we’re generally opposed to mandates, so we believe people should do what they think is right, and it should be voluntarily. We talked in our last episode about being part of a community and the respect we owe to one another. 

Masks have been a very hot topic in that regard, especially as it relates to school. Is “masking up” a choice each parent should make for their own kid? Why or why not?

Read more on our blog

Earned media is more valuable than paid media. But both are hard to get.

Branding matters for consistency and professionalism. BUT great branding can’t cover up bad positions. And no by needs that many palm cards, handouts, banners, and other suchness. We need metrics for realistic purchases of these kinds of materials.

What are the relevant milestones? Do we now know what to expect in engagement on social media, event attendance, etc? What are unrealistic expectations for engagement or attention?

What do voters care about? How do you earn their trust enough to be able to ask them?

What did we learn crafting positions on all these topics?

How much support (money, volunteers, media coverage) do we need?

If someone is thinking about running for office, why would you tell them NOT to? Why would you tell them they should?

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COVID is still a thing and yet I’m always a little startled when someone says they’ve tested positive or that they’ve been exposed. Sometime back in 2021 someone said we would learn to live with it and I guess we have. But I don’t want to forget and it feels like I am, and like people have. We’ve forgotten the powerful lessons we learned during COVID. And while there is some lingering momentum for some groups, on the whole we’ve gone back to business-as-usual and it’s scary.

While all demographics were affected by the pandemic, the lockdowns, and the raging debates over vaccines and mandates, we represent a very specific group: working moms. We are (mostly) on the millennial-side of GenX – in our 40s – and have kids in elementary and middle school – two high schoolers now. Melissa works part-time from home, Jess full-time from home, and Kasie full-time outside of home (but it’s academia and there’s lot of flexibility). We were fortunate to stay employed during COVID, but our experiences are not unique: overwhelmed, confused, angry, frustrated, sad, scared, and fed-up. 

If you hadn’t had the “I’m the only grown up in the room,” realization before COVID, no way you came out the other side of it without at least once saying, “Why are all the so-called adults idiots?”

So tonight we’re talking about the impacts of the COVID crisis – and make no mistake it was the perfect storm of crises – on working moms.

Let’s break it into categories of crisis.

• Your family. Your kid’s schooling.
• Your employer. Your job.
• Your mental health. Your coping mechanisms.
• The aftermath: what has irrevocably changed and what has (frustratingly or thankfully) gone back to “normal.”

Your Family: what did you learn about the people you live with? Do you like them? Are they fun? My sister accused my family of having a “covid bubble” wherein we got really close, established inside jokes, and actually like one another. It’s alienating, she said, to anyone who’s not us. What about school? What did you learn about your kid’s school? This created a surge in school board candidates and elections. The near-total incompetence of the government-run school system was on display. Our superintendent resigned this year under pressure that began during COVID.

Your employer: how did your business handle the lockdowns? What was the effect on your job? On company culture? On your industry? Has it been easier or harder since then to get back to pre-pandemic levels of productivity? We know a lot of industries are still recovering from the pandemic-caused supply-chain disruptions. Our legislators are quick to make laws forcing industry to recover, but these things have to work themselves out. Who should solve the problems the pandemic caused?

Your mental health: What did you learn about your own ability to cope during COVID? I’m a social person, so not seeing people nearly crushed me. We started having socially-distanced driveway happy hours. Every day, not just Fridays. It really helped us to see our neighbors and friends during COVID. Our family was a spectrum of caution. Some didn’t care one bit, or at least thought the risk was worth it to be together. Others were very cautious. I need exercise, too. It keeps me sane. So my daily walking habit with my friend and neighbor helped a lot. We played a lot of golf, Charlie and me. 

Read more on our blog

South Carolina is one of the States that has been in the news in recent months. With the overturning of Roe v. Wade there were several states who decided that they should legislatively place controls on the providing of abortion services. Many implemented bans after certain gestational benchmarks, but some states (ahem, South Carolina) took it to the extreme with attempts to completely ban abortions altogether. 

Sadly, a chamber full of old white men were able to draft and pass legislation that is a gross violation of womens’ rights to make medical decisions about their bodies. Thankfully, the South Carolina Supreme Court recently ruled that such a ban violates the right to privacy for women, and they nixed the whole thing. Now, these statements are always ones that get folks worked up, so before we spiral into an abyss of hostility, let’s talk about this like reasonable people. 

One of the things people often say is that the “purpose” of these bans is to “protect the sanctity of life” or the “rights of the unborn”. While it is certainly true that life is sacred, and we can have all sorts of conversations about when life begins, it is not the place of the government to be an enforcer of morality. There are instances when women are not given a choice in getting pregnant, and forcing them to carry a pregnancy to term is cruel. 

For example, if a woman (teenaged or otherwise) becomes pregnant as a result of being raped would you stand face to face with her and tell her that she must carry to term a pregnancy that is the result of one of the most violent acts a human can take on another? Where do her rights begin in this situation? 

OR- what if a woman finds out mid-pregnancy that the child she carries will almost certainly claim her life if she carries to term? Where do her rights begin in this situation? 

Another reason many support these bans is because they are concerned with late-term abortions or partial birth abortions.The fact of the matter is that this is not the norm. Women are not just getting pregnant for fun, carrying a baby for 7-8 months, then having an abortion. I have been pregnant twice, and I can tell you that the idea of this happening with regularity is absolutely absurd. 

Read more on our blog

In Season 2, episode 2, way back in January 2021 – holy cow! – we talked about the Crisis Cycle and the way the media has trained us (like monkeys) to get hysterical about specific things for specific reasons.

The latest crisis to obsess some digital parts of the USA is the imminent takeover of Twitter by the billionaire Elon Musk. Musk has said he will remove the restrictive censorship policies at the social media platform and work to develop the technology so the service acts more like a public square. So we can unpack that a little, I mean, everyone is talking about it.

But let’s also talk about social media in general and how young it is and how we don’t always get the business model or understand the real opportunity or risk of social media. 

Then let’s talk about how online outrage seems to be our new favorite thing to do. We love to be caught up in the drama of the celebrities-said-and-then-we-said-and-you-should-be-mad-because. Okay. It’s exhausting. That’s not even all the things that belong in that hyphenated hysterical expression. Here’s a quick where you stand:

Have you recently received via text a tiktok video?

Are you aware Johnny Depp has been testifying this week?

Has anyone ever called your attention to a drama unfolding and you realized, too late, that it was on Facebook?

Do you have rules for your own social media usage?

What about rules for your kids’ social media usage?

What’s the right way to contextualize what they/we are seeing online?

How can we get back into the real world and put perspective on the shit happening online?

It’s all a business, right, so does knowing the business side of it help? Or does our logical business brain just annoy those social media junkies? (LOL)

Read more on our blog

Full show notes out on the blog here. 

The founding principle of Libertarianism is… wait for it… Liberty. Freedom of choice, of association, and of all things. It is the idea that so long as you are not infringing on the rights of someone else you should be able to live your life, do with your body and your property however you see fit. 

It is vitally important to a free society for its people to understand what the concept of liberty means, but we often forget the topic of responsibility. You cannot have one without the other. 

We have covered the topics of Personal Responsibility and Accountability in prior episodes. In that same vein is the topic of “Community” and why this concept is equally important. In being free we all have a certain level of responsibility to one another and to our communities, to share the resources we have available to us that contribute to the overall health of our communities. 

Full show notes on the blog here.

Do you remember 9/11/2001? Where were you when you heard the news? 

What was your initial reaction to the event? To the war that followed?  

I lectured this week in my Strategic Management class on 9/11. Many of my students were just one and two years old when 9/11 happened so I spent a lot of time connecting the emotions of 9/11 — shock, sadness, grief, fear — to the pandemic and its impact on their generation. They’re the same age we were. Just beginning their lives albeit under this cloud of terror and authoritarianism.

Full show notes out on the blog here.

How do we utilize creative outlets for expression and to expand our children’s educational experience? What arts exposure do our kids have and how do we contextually use it?

For years, Hollie and I have attended Dracula at the Columbia ballet. Partly because it’s vampires and partly because it’s ballet. She’s been dancing since she was three and while it’s not a career-choice or even something she’s particularly passionate about, she loved the art of ballet. And we love stage performances. We’ve also done touring Broadway shows and theatre camps and live music of all kinds.

Why is an exposure to arts important for kids?

Are you satisfied with the opportunities for arts your kids get through their school? In your community?

Full show notes on the blog here.

If you have never heard the story about how Kasie and Jessica became friends, here is the Cliff’s Notes version:

The two embarked upon the journey that was the 2020 Libertarian Party National Convention in Orlando, Fl. During the 8 hour drive they learned of their shared parenting styles, a shared love of all things Clemson Football, and a shared (and possibly unhealthy) obsession with Hamilton. 

It is indisputable that Lin Manuel-Miranda has captured audiences with his lyrical and melodical genius, which has led many to a newfound curiosity, possibly obsession, about our founding fathers. Played by an all-minority cast, LMM reached audiences who would never know much more about the “old white men” they see on our money and in history textbooks. Watching Hamilton’s incredible cast doesn’t erase the dark side of our Founding Fathers’ history, though. 

We all know their remarkable (favorable) accomplishments, including, but not limited to, the following:

1. Built an army and defeated the world’s biggest Superpower (at that time)
2. Created a new society allowing for social and financial prosperity through liberty
3. Created new financial system
4. Created complex legal systems to allow for fair and equitable justice
5. Built a whole new progressive system of government

Full show notes on the blog here.

We have covered some ground on the topics of Accountability and Personal Responsibility. These ideas are important to a free society. Stemming from these topics is the concept of fiscal responsibility. That term is most commonly used when discussing government finances. Unless you have been living under a rock you know that balancing taxation and spending are not exactly the strong suit of our government. 

According to the Congressional Budget Office the US government budgeted for revenue in 2021 of $3.8 trillion with spending budgeted for $6.8 trillion. Quick math, that leaves us saddled with debt in the amount of $3 trillion. According to the US Debt Clock our national debt is more than $28 Trillion as of 7/31/2021, and rising as we breathe. 

Are your kids aware of government spending- State or Federal? Do you have discussions in your home?