Boys, Meet the Press

Opening Logo in 1947

Commuter Husband and I are socially liberal and electronically conservative. We are THOSE parents who have been purposely deliberate with the devices made available to the boys and the associated screen time (any kind of screen) our children are granted.

One impact of not having the television on at all during the week and very little on the weekends is that our children have never watched daily or weekly news programs. Thus, Oldest Son and Youngest Son have limited exposure to current events - main sources are us, events attended, reading, radio, school and our travels.

We have new factors in our family life. Oldest Son became a Quiz Bowler this year and one area of questions is Current Events. Oldest Son turned 13 and Youngest Son goes into Middle School next year.

It is time.

This morning we turned on Meet the Press and we will make this a Sunday morning ritual. I just ordered weekly delivery of the New York Times. We will proactively seek other sources to engage Oldest Son and Youngest Son.

So what happened this morning? Commuter Husband immediately started espousing his many political opinions. I sometimes agreed and sometimes did not (typical.) Oldest Son asked "What is the IRS?" Oh my gosh! I suppressed the urge to show my astonishment at his question and instead patiently explained to him what the Internal Revenue Service responsibilities included and why the IRS is important.

Yes, it is definitely time.

So we enter another phase of child rearing. The phase where we stop shielding the boys and instead expose and explain to them. Together we will try to make sense of atrocities, greediness and dishonesty. We will talk about tikkun olam, repairing the world, and how we share a responsibility to heal, repair and transform the world.

I am selfishly looking forward to this part of parenting. I always, always enjoy learning and spirited discussion!