Wednesday, January 13, 2021

We Don't Need Raincoats

When I was a teacher I would cringe on rainy days when that one sassy student pranced in with their umbrella. Yet, the umbrella never ceased to make an appearance, and it was always brought by the Ramona Quimby of the class. 

Those things were cumbersome, held up the class every time, and were undoubtedly left somewhere during the day, their absence only discovered when the kid needed it most. 


Raincoats, please, people. 


Naturally, my own boys both love umbrellas. In fact, they think any percentage of rain is enough to carry that ridiculous contraption with them.


But, this past week, thanks to Amy June Bates, I’ve had a change of heart towards umbrellas.


This change of heart came when Beckett and I read her beautiful picture book, The Big Umbrella, about a personified red umbrella. The umbrella is kind and welcoming and loves to help. The umbrella is spacious and nondiscriminatory in its ability to provide shelter. It covers the ballerinas and the basketball players, the human and the four-legged, the children and the elderly, those in wheelchairs and those walking on two feet. Everyone is covered by this umbrella.


I love this concept because it illustrated to Beckett, though perhaps just in allegory, that we don’t just need raincoats, because raincoats only cover one person. 


In an interview about this book, Amy June Bates said, “I wish I could have an image of the last page that included all the different faces of everyone [under the umbrella]. Because we all belong there.”


The Big Umbrella rightfully showed my little white boy, and reminded me, that our first job is to make sure that no one is getting rained on. I can’t help but wonder whether the events of this last week..hell, this last year...might have been different if we had just all been taught a long, long time ago to make sure that no one was left out in the rain. 


Wait...were we taught that?


I know that I am going to miss the mark on a lot of things as a parent. But, my boys are going to know that they don’t just need raincoats. They need to open their umbrellas.


#amyjunebates

#storybooksbythesea


Bates quote from: https://twowritingteachers.org/2018/02/19/a-conversation-with-amy-june-bates-juniper-bates/

Interview by Stacey Shubitz

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