Talking to your child about the strike:
You know your child best, and you should decide if and how you want to talk with them about the strike. If you want some support on how to talk to them, below are ideas and language that you can use. Feel free to speak with your child in any way that is open and honest. Allow your child to ask questions, and answer them honestly. Don’t be afraid to say, “That’s a great question and I don’t know the answer. What do you think?”
Talking Points
- Blue School workers want to have a union so that decisions in the school get made in a fair way.
- A strike is a way of protesting, using your voice, and telling everyone that having a union is very important.
- The strike is about grown-ups and is not because of, or about, kids. All adults at Blue School care about kids.
- This is also a great moment to learn more about the labor movement, strikes, and unions (see below for resources, including articles, books, and films).
Pre-Primary and Primary:
- Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
- The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
Primary:
- The Bobbin Girl by Emily Arnold McCully
- Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909 by Michelle Markel
- Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968 by Alice Faye Duncan
- Mother Jones: Labor Leader by Connie Colwell Miller
- That’s Not Fair!: Emma Tenayuca’s Struggle for Justice / ¡No Es Justo!: La Lucha de Emma Tenayuca por la Justicia by Carmen Tafolla and Sharyll Teneyuca
- Chicken Run
Middle School:
- “I’m a High Schooler in Los Angeles. I’m Standing with my Teachers on Strike.” Washington Post
- “Strikes 101,” Jobs with Justice
- Kids On Strike! by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
- Billy Elliot
- Newsies