“For the Kids”: Rahm Emanuel’s Grim Fairy Tale

This is a blog about children and how we as parents, caregivers and general putter-uppers relate to them.  This is why we have to talk about the Chicago mayor, Rahm Emanuel, for Rahm is all about the kids. Rahm has uttered the words “It’s for the kids” almost as many times as he has slashed budgets for social programs; and if you know Rahm that will be many times.

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Who Cares About Caregivers?

My three year old came home from preschool yesterday and said “Mama, Miss Tara twisted my arm today at naptime and it hurt me”.  These are words that scaffold every parent’s nightmares.  My failure to have protected my child from pain/harm does battle with my immediate blinding rage.  What is the due process in this case: should I dialogue with the school or should I ask for a public square and some rocks? What could possibly make the 45-year-old Ms. Tara hurt my child? As my sleepless night abdicates for a resigned morning there is another drama unfolding across my small town.  43-year-old Bethany Warner is fired from her job as a school bus driver by the local school board.  She fell asleep at the wheel while driving the children back from school.  Eight students were sent to the hospital with minor injuries.

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