Dear Readers —
A girlfriend reminded me this morning that, as a person who runs a website that reaches 16,000 people a month, I have a responsibility to use this platform wisely. To promote community, to promote growth, to promote learning, to promote cross cultural understanding, and to promote safety.
One of the most horrifying things about American culture, to me, is that as a culture we do not promote safe regulation of weapons of mass destruction, such as the rifles used to commit mass murder. Why a country that supposedly priorities “life” as well as “liberty” and the “pursuit of happiness” does not prioritize human life over gun ownership is beyond me.
Without getting into arguments over the actual intent of the 2nd amendment, I’d like to invite you to
— Talk with your Au Pair about gun safety. Make sure your Au Pair knows to ask whether there are unsecured guns in the homes of families where s/he takes your kid to play.
Consider donating money and time to Everytown for Gun Safety, an alliance of groups working to regulate gun ownership the same way we regulate driving, alcohol purchases, and Advil.
Check out Everytown for Gun Safety.
See also:
{ 4 comments }
Thank you for doing this. One of the reasons we chose our rockstar au pair is because during the interview process, she asked us if keep guns in the house. That showed me that she was thinking about the safety of our kids and her own safety. So important.
Agreed! During one of our final skype sessions she asked about our gun laws and whether we (or close friends and family) kept guns in the home. I was impressed for the same reasons and also that she had the courage to ask “face to face” a sister it can be a sensitive topic.
“— Talk with your Au Pair about gun safety. Make sure your Au Pair knows to ask whether there are unsecured guns in the homes of families where s/he takes your kid to play.”
In my experience (living in a gun-friendly city in a gun-friendly state), this is a really awkward conversation, and can become even more uncomfortable if the friend’s parents see nothing wrong with, say, keeping a handgun in a purse on a high shelf in the closet. I’d rather handle those discussions myself in advance, so I have a blanket rule that my child is not allowed to visit inside a friend’s house unless I have personally cleared it. I just think it’s easier for the au pair to be able to say “I’m sorry, this house is not on the list– we can check with HM for a future visit, but not today.”
I don’t think it should be the au pair’s responsibility to make sure there are no guns in the homes where her host kids go to play. If for some reason the other families don’t share the proper information with the au pair and there is an incident at another family’s house all the blame will be put on him/her. My host parents gave me a list of homes they’re comfortable with their kids going to play. They know their community, they know the people who are their neighbors, they know way more about the gun regulations in this country and it would be unfair to expect someone who just moved here and is trying to adapt to take on that responsibility. Most of the times au pairs don’t interact with the families of other kids. We communicate with other au pairs or babysitters/nannies.
Comments on this entry are closed.