“Win or lose, Mama, you need to write a letter congratulating the kids for all the sacrifices they made.”
That’s the note my 8-year-old left for me (with a little spelling help from my husband) on election night in Amherst. Since it was a weekday, she and my husband didn’t join me and the Vote Yes/Amherst for All team at The Pub that evening.
She had a point. In the last few months of the pro-charter campaign, so many of us from the Vote Yes side (and probably from the anti-charter side, as well) were absent on weeknights and weekend mornings and afternoons — either phone banking or canvassing.
Those of us who were fortunate enough to have supportive partners with flexible work schedules left our kids at home. Others had to hire sitters, and still others were lucky enough to have people within the campaign offer child care during the weekend volunteer shifts.
But apart from putting up with absentee parents, my daughter (along with some of the children of parents who were actively involved) made posters, helped me install (and take down) at least 50 blue-and-yellow lawn signs, and held Vote Yes signs outside her school on a blustery Election Day morning.
No matter whether we were for or against the charter, our children and families sacrificed a lot in the last few months. I know that even when I was home, I was distracted — writing letters, checking blogs, reading debate/canvassing updates, trying unsuccessfully to avoid Facebook, emailing like-minded friends.
Now our town has a lot to think about: Who will run for Town Council? How involved are we going to be in individual campaigns? Will Amherst residents come together after the divisiveness created by the last two local election votes?
With sacrifice comes reward. I have been thinking hard about Sofia’s note to me, wondering how we as a town can thank our children for the sacrifices they’ve made. What do our kids need most? (Well, besides physically and mentally present parents.)
They need new schools — not Band-Aid fixes on existing buildings — with environmentally sound learning environments. They need a 21st-century library with bright, open children/teen spaces and wheelchair accessibility. They need a vibrant downtown area bustling with local businesses.
And lest we forget, all our families need affordable preschool options for their children.
They need all this now, not a decade down the road. Amherst: Let’s reward our children by collaborating to provide future generations with schools that attract new families and a town with public services that benefit all its residents.
Farah Ameen is a writer and editor who moved to Amherst nine years ago.