Weekly Reads: Women are Champions of the Rebellion, Kids are not Terrorists, and Happy Birthday to Me!

Hey there Readers! It is December 11th, the year of our Lord Voldemort 2017 and it’s my birthday! Today starts my last trip around Sol as someone in their 40’s. That’s right, I’m 49 and still moving, albeit a little slower than I used to. Homo Sapiens can expect a couple more decades at least but I’ve decided to be optimistic and schedule a mid-life crisis sometime this year. That’s right life… it’s only half-time baby!

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is in theatres this week! Leah Schnelbach at Tor.com reveals how The Force Awakens and Rogue One have transformed Star Wars from a boys story to a girls story in Women are the Champions of the Rebellion Now.

There was a moment in Rogue One—a flawed, complicated moment, in a film which many people didn’t like—that fundamentally changed what the Star Wars saga is about.

In the final sequence, instead of focusing on individuals, the camera follows the disc with the Death Star plans pass hand-to-hand as Darth Vader chases it down. Someone watching Rogue One has almost certainly seen a Star War, and thus should know that the plans make it through. But the film approaches this moment from the point of the view of the terrified Rebels who are barely, desperately, keeping the disc one step ahead of the enemy. We see that it reaches Leia with seconds to spare, and then she flees with it. And we know that she’s going to be captured in a few minutes, but that the plans will be safe with R2-D2 by then. The Rebellion will survive. The sacrifices have worked. Leia takes the disc and calls it hope.

This is the moment when Star Wars went from being a boy’s story to a girl’s story.

Our own Steph writes at Romper about how she and her husband’s disagreement on how to handle Santa Claus may be ruining their Christmas!

We’ve been writing about Christmas here at Grounded Parents since the beginning. Check out our archives for great holiday reading!

I couldn’t make myself pick a pull quote for this next piece, please read the whole thing, with appropriate CN: Childhood Disease and Abortion. Jen Gann and her husband Tag are the parents of Dudley, an active and adorable toddler. A toddler with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that will require extensive care for the rest of Dudley’s life. Since the genetic markers for CF are common enough in Caucasians that two carriers are at high risk of conceiving a child with the disorder they got a genetic screening with the understanding that if anything was wrong that they would terminate the pregnancy. They were told no news was good news. This was not the case. Now they are suing for wrongful birth. It’s a complicated and heartbreaking story that intersects with so many secular parenting issues. Please take it all in before responding… especially in light of our next story.

Here’s a real blood boiler… Mohammad Suleiman is a 6 year old with Down’s syndrome. A substitute teacher in his class reported Mohammad for making terrorist threats? Really? 

A supply teacher’s call to police about a six-year-old Muslim boy with Down’s Syndrome led to his family being investigated for terrorism.

Officers launched the probe after six-year-old Mohammad Suleiman allegedly kept repeating the words “Allah” and “boom” class.

His parents from the Texan city of Pearland, around 20 miles south of Houston, have claimed this cannot be true because “he doesn’t speak at all” and has “the mental capacity of a one-year-old.”

What do people mean when we say “Happy Holidays?” This is what we mean…

“Happy holidays” is more than just a phrase people use to be politically correct. It’s a recognition of the fact that there are dozens of different holidays that happen at the end of the year. Virtually every culture has some special celebration dedicated to reflection and celebration with our loved ones.

What benefit does that offer to parents? Well, it’s always a good time to teach your kids about history and culture. None of these holidays are as all-consuming as Christmas (in fact, Christmas devoured a lot of them), so learning about them or even celebrating some of them takes little effort.

Since it’s my birthday I get to pick the music. It’s Jethro Tull of course… Enjoy.

Featured Image Credit by The Schmoo