How Do We Talk About What's Happening in Minnesota? (with Erin Cox)
How are we supposed to talk to our children about what's happening in Minnesota and in our own communities? How do we react when we're feeling angry and frightened ourselves? Here's how we can make one another feel more safe and supported during unsettling times.
We welcome back family counselor Erin Cox to talk about how we talk about the immigration raids and ICE detentions taking place in the United States, the children who are being detained, and the fear all children are absorbing from the news, social media, and their communities.
We discuss what’s happening on the ground in places like Minnesota, Texas, and Portland; why it's making so many of us feel frightened and disoriented; and what we can do as parents whose children are directly impacted—and for those kids who are learning about it online.
We discuss how children communicate distress through behavior and play and why empathy and emotional vocabulary are essential tools we can teach our children. Erin explains the importance of co-regulation—how children borrow calm from the adults in their lives—and shares ways parents can care for their own nervous systems so they can show up as a steady presence.
While fear may be the point of these tactics, connection, community, and resilience are how we can respond.
Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode:
- Follow Erin on IG @loveuwitherin
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Corina Knoll for The New York Times: A Winter of Anguish for Minneapolis Children
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A.O. Scott for The New York Times: In Under 500 Words, a Judge Weaponized Wit to Free the Child Detained by ICE
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Elora Mukherjee for The New York Times: Liam Ramos Was Just One of Hundreds of Children at This Detention Center. Release Them All.
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Sahara Sajjadi for Copper Courier: Three-year-old child forced to serve as her own attorney in Tucson immigration court
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Camilo Montoya-Galvez for CBS News: ICE halts "all movement" at Texas detention facility due to measles infections
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CBS News: Columbia Heights schools, where 5-year-old Liam Ramos attends, closed Monday due to bomb threat
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David Martin Davies for Texas Public Radio: Reps. Castro and Crockett Describe Conditions at ICE Dilley Detention Center
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Laura Kelly Fanucci for America: The Jesuit Review: I’m a Minnesota Catholic Mom — Here’s What My Neighbors Are Saying About ICE
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The Marshall Project: ‘Why Is This Happening to Us?’ Daily Number of Kids in ICE Detention Jumps 6x Under Trump
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Lily Hay Newman et. al for WIRED: What to Do If ICE Invades Your Neighborhood
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James Baraz and Shoshana Alexander: AWAKENING JOY
What Fresh Hell is co-hosted by Margaret Ables and Amy Wilson.
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mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent, parenting in crisis, talking to kids about ICE, immigration fear children, kids and anxiety, family separation, safety planning for kids, co-regulation, empathy for children, trauma-informed parenting, kids and current events, emotional regulation parents, helping anxious kids, resilience in families, parenting during political stress, how to talk to kids about scary news
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