A few weeks ago my daughter had report card pick up day. That means that school is closed for classes and as such, she ended up going to work with me. For lunch we walked over to a local cafe that just happens to have gelato as well. As I was at the register paying for our food when she spotted it. A brochure for the Breast Cancer 3-Day walk.
"Mom, why does that say walk?"
I explain to her that this organization asks people to walk for three days to raise money to help people who are sick. The walkers ask friends and family to donate money to help the sick people.
"Oh!!!" and her eyes light up.
Would you like to do that one day?
"Yeah!" with a lot of head shaking.
I started to think, well I know I would need to train for a 3 day walk. She's five and a half. Hmm...Oh! What about a small walk to help people?
And so this morning I signed my daughter & myself up for the Chicago Foundation for Women's 5K walk, run and roll. Yes, I hemmed and hawed over it for a good week or two. I was worried that she might not be able to finish. I still do. But I've worked with CFW for years, love the work they do and know that the money I raise will be put to good use.
I registered us around 10 am. By 10 pm we had raised $125 through me posting it on Facebook, Twitter and a mass email to friends & family. I also have verbal commitments from a few others so I'm confident that our goal of $200 will be met if not totally surpassed.
I also decided to register and have us at least try to walk the whole course because she wants to do it. If I truly am raising a feminist child or as I like to say, a feminist in training, I need to allow her to enter the community on her own terms. She does come to meetings with me, but that's usually a 'Do your homework while mommy works' thing. At the walk, she'll be part of a team. She'll get to see some of the women mommy works with. She'll get to see that mommy works with a lot of people to make Chicago a more woman-friendly city.
I want my daughter to know this is what we do. We work hard, writing, organizing, raising money and even walking to help those who need it. We work hard to support each other.
That's just one way that I practice feminist parenting.