OPEN THREAD: How to talk to your kids about the US election

I went to sleep last night around 11 EST with enough hope to allow for actual peaceful dreams. Then I woke up around 4:15 and made the mistake of checking my phone. One of my first thoughts as I processed my shock at Donald Trump’s unexpected win last night was how am I ever going to explain this to my kids.

Looking around the internet, I am far from the only parent who has had this thought or who had to have agonizing conversations with their children this morning.

We are lucky in my household. And by that, I really mean that we are privileged. We live in a state that went for Clinton by a narrow margin due largely to the county we live in and the surrounding jurisdictions. We are white. We are solidly middle class with employer-provided health insurance and jobs which are unlikely to be immediately effected. We are straight passing with kids who either identify as straight or are too young to have really thought about it. The biggest strike against us is that we are openly atheist and I am a big ole loudmouthed Nasty Woman. And it was still a horrible pair of conversations, even being able to assure our kids that we will probably be fine.

We focused on hope and community and the fact that we really are #StrongerTogether. We talked about how something that we have that other communities in opposition to power throughout history have not is the ability to know that we are not isolated and alone. And we assured them that there are midterm elections in two years where we may be able to make more changes to the makeup of the House and Senate. And we talked about helping and fighting for our neighbors and our friends who do not have the same ability to weather the storm that is on the horizon.

But the point of this post is not about me and what my husband and I said to our kids. It’s about all of us and how we can help each other with our stories and our suggestions and our fears. So please, ask for help or share your story or just feel some solidarity today. Because we are #StrongerTogether and we can #TakeOurCountryForward.