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Let’s Explore Self-Identity

Who they are – what they are, and how this informs how we interface with the world and others.

Some identities can change. Challenges can shift. This is a conversation we must revisit regularly. So let’s dig into it again this month!

Instead of a tightly packed itinerary of the shit we owe others because of who and where we were born to – what if we woke up to a single question: ‘what feels possible today?

I’m dreaming futures and wondering what we really need to learn before the kids enter an adulthood – when most of today’s jobs will be automated. I’m less concerned with teaching my kids how to code and compute integrals, and more concerned with teaching the Earthquakes how to be more human in ways machines can’t.

Supporting our kids means helping them discover what it means to be human

As we rethinking our relationship with computers, animals, the planet, other humans, and all those permutations of cosmic dust, our kids’ abilities to survive and thrive will depend less on their ability to perform as cogs in a machine. Which means guiding them to discover healthier models of interdependence, community development, and keeping their shit together in an age of overwhelm and uncertainty.

Ages 4+

Ages 4-8

Ages 4+

Read:

• Where Oliver Fits:
  Validating for kids who use masking and assimilation to hide who they are in search of belonging
• A Normal Pig:
  Recognizing the identities that define us means acknowledging how we’re different than others (I don’t usually describe myself as a four-limbed human earthling). This is the same impulse that causes folks with privilege to identify as the ‘default’ human, whereas folks who hold targeted and marginalized identities are sidelined as a deviation from the norm.
• Swift Fox All Along:
  Who defines what it means to be ‘enough’ in our identities? Particularly for groups who have been segregated, divided, and targeted by cultural genocide, one of the first steps of regaining our power and gathering for collective action means acknowledging the spectrum of who gets to claim their own identity. Even within our own groups, we’re often held back by supremacist notions of of purity.
  (And no I’m not saying folks with privilege have the right to appropriate targeted cultures for attention and profit. Be reasonable about this.)

Watch / Listen:

Discuss:

• What identities do we hold?
• What stories does the media, folks in our community, and our society tell us about people like us?
• What responsibilities do these identities carry?
• What does it look like to accept ourselves despite the stories telling us that some folks are more worthy than others?
• What does it look like to accept others, even when we disagree?
• How do we accept and support others while maintaining our own boundaries and respecting the boundaries of others?

Activities

• What Makes Me Me? Workbook zine, inspired by middle schoolers from Burton International Academy

More resources to dig deeper:

• Stories for Kids Examining Self-Identity, Acceptance & Worth
• The Myth of Racial Purity
• Kids stories to unpack Envy & Jealousy
• Stories for kids who feel left out
• Finding our own type of leadership
• Exploring our racial identities
• Recognizing our privilege
• Smashing wealth inequality series – what it means to see past the constructs of good and bad, superior and stigmatized, reconciling division and inclusion.
• Kids Stories On Transitions: Growing Up, Coming Out, and Accepting Change
• All Bodies Are Good Bodies
• Wrestling With Insecurity with ‘Escargot’
• Books for Kids Examining Self-Identity, Acceptance & Worth