Our private mother concerns are worthy of public attention by school leaders, the media and by elected, civic and corporate leaders.
Diverse mothers, common concerns.
Many of the other women at this workshop were immigrants from China, Mexico, Sudan, and Iraq—women marginalized in multiple ways: displaced culturally, English not their first language, economically challenged, in some kind of “at-risk” situation, and most often, single care-givers to children and dependents.  The concerns they expressed ranged from the impact of the AIDS pandemic on children by one African decent mother, unemployment by a Hispanic mother, and physical fitness for children by a Mandarin-speaking Chinese grandmother (a very fit granny, as you might imagine).  One Iraqi mother-to-be was so overcome by excitement for her soon-to-be-born child that she couldn’t identify a single thing about which she was concerned or worried.  One Latin American mother was concerned for the safety of her children on the playground in the poor urban setting in which the school resided.  When we acted out her concern for school safety, I asked the group what she could do to make the environment safer. One woman suggested she talk with the principal; so we set up that scene with one woman portraying the principal, another as her secretary, and our mother as the one asking to speak with the principal. As she entered into the scene, the secretary was sufficiently haughty such that our mother backed down and broke the scene with nervous laughter saying she couldn’t do it. I asked the group what might help her to do this action. No ideas for a few moments, then the mother offered that she just couldn’t do it alone. Easily we got another mother to go with her, reenacted the scene, and it proceeded beautifully with the principal saying she would work on it.
Brainstorming solutions.
We ended by brainstorming how this small action could be amplified even farther. Someone suggested getting even more mothers to go to speak with the principal—power in numbers. Another suggested presenting these same concerns to the school board or at least write something to the school board. Yet another suggested a simple event of having the mothers circle the outside of the playground holding hands as a way of showing the protection they wanted for their children. I added that a radio station and newspapers could be invited to cover this event and city officials could be invited. Everyone’s excitement grew as the event increased in visibility and audacity.
