Raising Resilient Jewish Kids in an Age of Uncertainty |
Last month, my phone lit up with a message no parent wants to see. Reports of an armed gunman on my daughter’s college campus. Students were instructed to “run, hide, or fight.” It turned out to be a false alarm. But my nervous system didn’t know that at first. My heart pounded. My chest tightened. My mind went exactly where you’d expect it to go. The physiological cascade was immediate: the same surge I felt on October 7th, and in many moments since, when opening a text, article, or social media post meant bracing for news of another antisemitic incident. As a psychologist, I understood this response well. When something resembles a past threat, the nervous system can sound the alarm before the mind catches up. As a mother, I just felt scared. And almost immediately, I realized something else: this isn’t just about my nervous system anymore. It’s about what my children are learning from how I respond. After I confirmed my daughter was safe, I noticed what I’ve noticed many times over the past two and a half years: my body was still buzzing. The threat had passed, but my system hadn’t recalibrated. So, I did what I’ve learned to do since October 7th. I gave my body what it needed. I drove into Manhattan for a last-minute Zumba class. I jumped. I danced. I let the music move the adrenaline out of my body. I stayed until my breathing slowed, my shoulders dropped, and my nervous system remembered that, in this moment, we were okay. This has quietly become part of what it means, for me, to........