Timeline for How do I explain the reasons behind protesting and rioting to my children?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
15 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jun 5, 2020 at 23:28 | comment | added | barbecue | There is of course no single reason, but I think the key is deperation. Not all riots are motivated by social injustice or politics. Riots can and do happen when people are panic-stricken and trying to flee from danger, or when they are starving and desperate for food. The common theme is desperation to survive, either as an individual, a family, or a culture. | |
| Jun 5, 2020 at 14:22 | comment | added | user3136977 | This is close. The situation isn't that someone isn't listening to you. The situation is that someone is hitting you. That person is the school bully. You've told the principal. You've told your teachers. You've told your parents. Even then, nothing has changed. The vice principal said the bully punches you because your brother was bad. The principal, some students, and some teachers smirk when he beats you. Some even tell him where you're hiding. No matter how well you do in class, the way most students react to you tells you you're not really welcome. How would you feel? | |
| Jun 5, 2020 at 8:34 | comment | added | henning no longer feeds AI | @Joe you said in your question "I'm also not interested in "people should never do this" answers; I want to know how to explain why they do, not whether they should or not." Therefore, this is the answer you were looking for. I understand that you want to tell your kids that lashing out is not ok, though. Perhaps this is an opportunity to explain them that sometimes people do things that are not ok. | |
| Jun 5, 2020 at 1:40 | comment | added | Nacht | @Joe I have also heard that a great many of the rioters are white people who think they are being allies of the black community. Every African-American voice I have read/heard/seen has advocated only for the peaceful protests. | |
| Jun 5, 2020 at 1:35 | comment | added | Nacht | @Joe President Obama disagrees with the assertion that violent action is necessary to get the attention of the community. medium.com/@BarackObama/… | |
| Jun 4, 2020 at 10:14 | comment | added | Eevee | @LindseyD this feels reductive, and presupposes that the child's parents are behaving well in the first place. sometimes, no one really is listening, and the only obvious options are to suffer indefinitely or lash out. | |
| Jun 3, 2020 at 23:45 | comment | added | Adam Heeg | @LindseyD it is not exactly right as a more correct version would be your child gets angry at you, then with that bottled up anger goes out and harms another kid who was not involved. In fact this is something people do and kids who act out in school many times are venting their anger from home issues. I think it is important to rightly assess this topic even more so when children are concerned. | |
| Jun 3, 2020 at 20:23 | comment | added | Lindsey D | +100, this is exactly right. A protest is equivalent to your child requesting something firmly but politely. A riot is when they throw a temper tantrum because they feel like no one is listening. Rioting is bad behavior, just as throwing a temper tantrum is bad behavior. | |
| S Jun 3, 2020 at 19:27 | history | mod moved comments to chat | |||
| S Jun 3, 2020 at 19:27 | comment | added | Rory Alsop♦ | Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. | |
| Jun 2, 2020 at 19:54 | comment | added | Becuzz | Even though you teach your children that lashing out is wrong, they can certainly appreciate being frustrated and angry. And they should be able to understand that other people don't always do what you've taught them (either because they weren't taught that way or because they are being "naughty"). It can be hard to explain why frustrated, angry people aren't doing rational things. But maybe the explanation is that frustration and anger don't always lead to rational actions. Sometimes people's desire to be heard stops them from doing logical, moral things. | |
| Jun 2, 2020 at 18:17 | comment | added | Joe | This does effectively explain why they're doing it, though, which is definitely a very important element in explaining it to a child. | |
| Jun 2, 2020 at 18:16 | comment | added | Joe | I suspect some of it simply is in the difference in importance - it's never okay to hit someone because they won't pay attention to the rules of a game, or because you want Daddy's attention, but when we're talking about people's lives being lost due to entrenched racism, it's different - but understanding differences in scale of importance is something that's very, very hard for a young child. | |
| Jun 2, 2020 at 18:15 | comment | added | Joe | I think this is a good answer (+1). I do think it misses a little in the translation to a child, though, because we would always teach our children never to lash out - that it's always wrong to do so. In the case here, I'm not sure that's entirely true - sometimes change seems to necessitate some sort of violent act first to get the attention of the community at large - and that's really where I'm struggling to explain the difference (why it's at least sort of okay here, in some ways, while it's never okay to hit another child because they won't listen to you). | |
| Jun 2, 2020 at 18:07 | history | answered | Becuzz | CC BY-SA 4.0 |