Dr. B – So, how is the climate change empowerment project going?
Parent A – Well, the butterfly garden is going great. But we are struggling with what is a butterfly bush and what is a weed.
Dr. B – Ha. The crime scene tape controls intruders, but not weeds?
Parent A – Exactly. But I have to admit, I’m really proud of him. He’s lobbying for another section for next year that’s bird friendly.
Dr. B – Wow. Aren’t you the flexible parent.
Parent A – We’ll see. I got a call from my daughter’s counselor. It seems she’s broadened the scope of her “no meat” campaign.
Dr. B – Oh, oh. A little too much empowerment?
Parent A – It seems she and a couple of her fellow eco activists shut down the cafeteria line today because they were serving hamburgers.
Dr. B – Are you mad at her or proud of her?
Parent A – What’s next? Chaining herself to a redwood, one hundred feet in the air?
Dr. B – The counselor called and then what?
Parent A – They suspended the kids for three days and threatened something worse if they did it again.
Dr. B – The old “suspension solution”. Never goes out of style.
Parent A – What do you suggest I do?
Dr. B – Have you talked to your daughter yet?
Parent A – No. She said we should talk after dinner. I think she wanted time to prepare her legal brief for the court.
Dr. B – Ha. I love it.
Parent A – Easy for you to say. The school expects me to punish her and send her back to school with a “better attitude”, if I understood correctly.
Dr. B – As in “learn to respect authority and don’t break the rules”, attitude?
Parent A – Yeah. I think that’s what that meant.
Dr. B – Well, are you going to punish her?
Parent A – No.
Dr. B – So, what are you going to do to “improve her attitude”?
Parent A – I’m open to suggestions.
Dr. B – I’d approach it like a good coach. Get her to analyze the play she ran and help her brainstorm something more effective.
Parent A – That sounds rather subversive.
Dr. B – Not at all. You are joining her in her world and supporting a process of empowerment.
Parent A – So, I’m a coach with the mindset of, “Your cause is just, but your tactics need work”.
Dr. B – Well said. How do you think she would respond to that approach?
Parent A – She’d probably give me an eco-activist code name and teach me the secret handshake.
Dr. B – Ha.
