Let’s explore healthy anger

Anger is a sign we’ve created higher expectations!

What is that saying, where March romps in like a lion and stumbles out like a lamb?

Whatever it is, I’m not having that this week. We have a kyriarchy to smash and thoughts, prayers, and gentle nudges won’t get done that needs doing. We shall remain lions – hold steady with those sharp claws and that wild and fabulous mane.

Let’s rip and tear our way into April with a cathartic roar of fury.

Deep breath, here we go.

March is just the perfect month to get riled up and angry. And you know what? The perfect way to get angry is to read about all the bullshit women have had to put up with from their own families over the last few thousand years.

Instead of focusing on women specifically for the intersection of women’s rights month and our exploration of anger this March – we focus on accepting and using healthy anger in a society that condones violent aggression from men, and yet weaponizes a woman’s righteous anger against her.

My kids are both masculine-leaning, and one of the best things we can do when raising boys is to teach them that women have a right to own their experiences and emotions. That way, when my kiddos find themselves compelled to brush off a woman’s concerns, they can check themselves, recognize her concerns, and be better accomplices.

Read:

• Mary Wears What She Wants (ages 4-8)
• When I Was Eight (ages 6+)
• Lucía the Luchadora (ages 3-7)

Watch

• Something Really Ought To Be Done About Little  Miss Bossy (video analysis, maybe don’t watch with kids, I tend to cuss a lot)

Caregivers: Questions to ask yourself

• What type of anger is ‘acceptable’ from women and targeted people?
• For those of us who were taught to accept poor treatment and targeting: how does our anger connect us to our human rights and dignity?
• How does accepting and embracing our anger help us raise kind and brilliant kids?
• How could we strategically weaponize our anger to be more dangerous in the fight against against systemic oppression?

Take action: SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL WOMEN’S SHELTER

Not sure which shelter to support? Join us – I direct $15 of our membership contributions to Rosie’s Place, a sanctuary for women experiencing or at-risk for homelessness. Comment below to boost your favorite organization supporting housing insecure women and mothers.

More Resources to dig deeper:

• When you feel my teeth pierce your jugular
• Whining, Tantrums & Outbursts: Books to Help Kids Chill
• Kids books Validating Big Feelings
• Who has the right to get angry? Talking with kids about entitlement & privilege.
• Destigmatizing Anger in Women unpolished book list: a quick and messy infodump of assumptions we need to dismantle when it comes to anger in women. Also a list of stories where righteously angry women and girls transform their anger into good trouble.
• Destigmatizing Rebellion & Demolition: more unpolished infodumps on what to look for in kidlit.
• When your kid is the aggressor: Books to discuss aggressive behavior with young kids
• Keeping Women In The Kitchen with ‘Jimmy Zangwow’
• Kids books to help Validating frustration with feeling small & powerless
• Raising Luminaries Podcast: Anger & The Spectacle
• Problematic Book Review: Something really ought to be done about Little Miss Bossy
• Luminary Braintrust Members: Embrace angry girls & women in our Family Movie Night analysis of Turning Red & Robinhood’s unsung hero, Lady Cluck