Don't let the goblins distract you

Luckily for me, my son is too young to realize he doesn’t have a Halloween costume. Thankfully, my neighbors have more than made up for my failings. You’d easily think Halloween is the biggest holiday of the year walking around right now. The energy that people are pouring into their displays is a visual reminder of just how deeply we’re craving an escape, a distraction, anything else to put our attention towards. 

Entertaining as the decorations are, soon they’ll be taken down and we’ll be left with the terror of our current reality - easily scarier than any Halloween display. It’s no wonder people are seeking solace in goblins and ghosts. 

Right on the heels of Halloween comes the election. As if you could have somehow forgotten. I failed to get my kid a costume, I will not fail him at the ballot box. For parents, the compounding events of 2020 have left us worried that we’re failing our kids. You’re not. Yet. As a parent, the only way you can truly fail your kids right now is if you don’t vote. Kids have a voice. Spend one afternoon with a squawking toddler, an inquisitive 6 year old, or a passionate pre-teen and you will have no doubt about that. Their voices are powerful, their voices are important. But they cannot vote. You can. 

How many times have you said you’d do anything for your kid? You’ve probably been saying it since they were born. This is your moment. And what is being asked of you isn’t to defend your child’s future with an act of physical strength, but with your voice. There are many reasons to vote, especially in this election, but there is one that should be important to all of us no matter how we’re registered: our children's future. 

Millennial parents have the most on the line. We, more than any other group, should feel a tremendous sense of responsibility to vote. Climate change is happening before our eyes. We chose to bring kids into this world knowing that. We owe it to them to do something about it. This could not be more personal for us. It is our kids who will pay the price. We know climate chaos will impact them, the question is how badly and how soon. Chances are, we'll still be alive to watch it happen. Nothing is worse than watching your kid in pain. Can you watch that pain knowing that you had a chance to change it and did nothing?

Maybe you don’t recycle. Maybe you use plastic all the time. We could all make changes in our daily lives that would benefit the planet, but the single biggest thing any of us can do is vote. It seems obvious that millennial parents should get to the ballot box, driven by climate alone. But in the 2016 election only 51% of eligible millennials voted. That’s not even a passing grade. If your kid brought home a 51% on a test you’d acknowledge they failed and work on doing better next time. It is next time. We have to do better. 

We’re all worried about failing our kids. In this case, if you’re not voting, then yes, you are failing them. You’re failing them in the biggest way imaginable. We say we will do anything for our kids. Now is the moment to prove it.