Category: children's advocate

The Chicago Teachers Strike, Museums, and Economic Disparity

The Chicago Teachers Strike, Museums, and Economic Disparity
On Monday and Tuesday of last week, during the Chicago Teachers Strike, we took our grandkids who were visiting from Indiana during their fall break to the Science and Industry and Field museums. My husband was worried they would be crowded due to the strike, but sadly, I knew better. Taking three kids, ages 13,... Read more »
By Laurie Levy,
November 1, 2019 at 9:26 am • 

Detention Centers for Children: America's Shame

Detention Centers for Children: America's Shame
Seventy-two years ago today, Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl was published. I remember reading it when I was thirteen, around the age she started writing her thoughts while in hiding from the Nazis during World War II. And then I asked my parents why. Why didn’t anyone do anything to stop the... Read more »
By Laurie Levy,
June 25, 2019 at 6:18 pm • 

A Caring Community Creates a Playground for Children with Disabilities

A Caring Community Creates a Playground for Children with Disabilities
The Happy Ending to the Evanston Park School Playground Story “The future which we hold in trust for our own children will be shaped by our fairness to other people’s children.” — Marian Wright Edelman The school playground was usually empty. The swing frame held no swings. The wooden climbing structure was decaying, faded and... Read more »
By Laurie Levy,
October 18, 2018 at 1:15 pm • 
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The American Child Care Dilemma

The American Child Care Dilemma
My daughter came home unexpectedly from work and discovered that the nanny, who was supposed to be watching her kids, was sound asleep. I remember the same thing happening to me when I learned that the sitter I had trusted to watch my child (now the mother in this story) for a few hours had neglected to check... Read more »
By Laurie Levy,
September 28, 2018 at 9:28 am • 

How Can You Watch This and Still Support the Trump Border Policy?

How Can You Watch This and Still Support the Trump Border Policy?
There are still over 500 children, many of them under age five, separated from their parents. This despite a court ruling that the Trump administration was ordered to halt separations on June 20, reunite children under age five with their families by July 12, and reunite all of the older children by July 26. So... Read more »
By Laurie Levy,
August 30, 2018 at 10:16 am • 

When 47% of the Entering Kindergarten Class is Deemed Not Ready, Something is Very Wrong

When 47% of the Entering Kindergarten Class is Deemed Not Ready, Something is Very Wrong
Another of my grandkids started just kindergarten. My daughter experienced the expected emotions of a mother whose “baby” is entering public school. But there was an added worry. Was he ready for the demands of kindergarten at his school? As his grandmother, I think he is a terrific boy, full of curiosity, caring, imagination, and... Read more »
By Laurie Levy,
August 17, 2018 at 8:00 am • 
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Starting School: My Earliest School Memories Were Not So Happy

Do you remember the cloak room or folding your piece of paper into eight sections? If yes, maybe you started school in the fifties like I did. That was an era when parents were more ghosts than helicopters and when The Teacher’s word was respected and feared. We sat in neat rows with lots of... Read more »
By Laurie Levy,
July 25, 2018 at 2:14 pm • 

The Migrant Children Crisis is Moral, Not Political

Facebook deemed my post about the Mr. Rogers movie too political. When I recommended folks should see Won’t You Be My Neighbor, the documentary honoring the life and teachings of Fred Rogers, I contrasted the way Mr. Rogers understood, respected, and loved young children with the way the Trump administration had separated over 2,500 children... Read more »
By Laurie Levy,
June 25, 2018 at 10:18 am • 

Remembering Mr. Rogers: Why You Should See Won’t You Be My Neighbor

I needed to restore my faith in humanity after listening to an endless loop of the heartbreaking cries of children separated from their parents by Trump’s border policy. I needed to hear the voice of Mr. Rogers, a man who embodied empathy, kindness, caring, and especially love of children. So I switched off the news,... Read more »
By Laurie Levy,
June 20, 2018 at 9:52 am • 
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Separating Kids from Parents is OK with Some Folks

There was a dog whistle in Kellyanne Conway’s interview with Chuck Todd on Meet the Press yesterday, June 17, Father’s Day 2018. In defending the Trump/Sessions policy of incarcerating adults crossing the border, even asylum seekers, and thus justifying separating kids from their parents who “broke the law,” Conway said, “And Chuck, let me just... Read more »
By Laurie Levy,
June 18, 2018 at 9:42 am •