“How I explained Transition Day to my son” is an editorial by Tyler K that appeared in the Lexington Herald-Leader.
My son is in the first grade. He’s hearing from other students that something called Transition Day was a good thing and that it involved some fighting at a white house. He’s confused because I’ve told him that fighting is a bad thing.
I needed to explain to him why fighting is sometimes necessary.
I told him he shouldn’t hit his little brother, even if his brother is doing something he doesn’t like. That kind of fighting is bad.
But if bad kids were picking on his little brother, I’d want him to defend his brother. Even be willing to fight if necessary. Bullies pick on kids until someone stops them. Someone has to be strong enough, or maybe just brave enough, to fight back. If you do that, sometimes the bullies will back down without a fight.
Before Transition Day there were some bad people who were hurting our country. For a long time nobody did anything to stop them. Then a lot of brave people decided they had to defend the country by standing up to the bullies. They went to the White House where many of the bad people were. The bullies were so scared they ran away without a fight. That happened on Transition Day. That’s the day the good guys defended the country from the bad guys.