Challenging what we know

Today's blog post is contributed by Raquel Richardson, OPTIONS Alumna, Class 6. We thank Raquel for sharing her perspective on a recent OPTIONS Alumnae event, a discussion of the novel Push, by Sapphire, inspiration for recent Academy Award Best Picture nominee, Precious.

By Raquel Richardson

Principal
Silver Square :: Marketing + Design

We know the sun will come up tomorrow. We know the leaves turn colors in the fall. We know the earth is round. We know the truth – until we don’t. Our world has a funny way of keeping us off balance and adding in those little idiosyncrasies that make us pause and take note, challenging what we know.

Then we are exposed to a story like Push, by Sapphire, which later turned into the award-winning movie Precious. Most of us go about our day thinking children are cared for, mother’s take care of their children, teachers hold our kids accountable and on and on. Then we realize, that’s not the truth.

Our latest OPTIONS Alumnae event conversed about the challenges, stereotypes, personal experiences, parenting fears and more in our discussion of this story. Anita Carpenter from the Indiana Coalition Against Sexual Assault joined us to help facilitate the evening, and act as a mentor to us in our ability to find answers we could relate to, and ways in which we can take our talents and steps to ensure fewer and fewer children walk in a life like Precious.

Anita introduced us to a couple new ways to help teach our children to deal with uncomfortable situations:

1. Bystander Intervention. We can teach our children, and practice ourselves, to speak up when we witness others doing something they shouldn’t. Using simple phrases such as "that isn’t appropriate" or "we don’t allow that kind of language in our house" are effective and simple ways we can interrupt a situation;


2. Go tell a Mommy. My childhood advice when I felt like I needed to tell someone of authority something was to go talk to a police officer. That’s not realistic today. When a child is out at a mall, out with their friends or find themselves in a situation where they are lost or scared for any reason, they are told to go tell a Mommy. A Mommy will find an answer and take care of you.

Discussing this story, hearing comments from my peers and learning of the real-life cases Anita has experienced, brought a whole new awareness for me. It’s good to expand your personal comfort zone on topics you would otherwise not bring to your dinner table. Likewise, it’s good to hear how we can help. Thanks to other volunteers at the coalition, you can assist children in schools or on-call in hospitals once properly trained on these topics. If this is a personal cause of passion for you, take advantage of the training and help one child at a time never have to relate to Precious’s story.

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