Skip to main content

Am I out of line?

An upcoming Lag b'Omer program at our shul was billed as being "For young couples and young families."  I don't think of myself as either, not because I feel sorry for myself for NOT being particularly young, but because I don't want to broaden the definition of "young family" to include every single couple with children. 
 
(As a mama of teenagers, I feel more "old family" most of the time, and I'm proud of every minute I've put into parenting over the last seventeen years.)
 
If the shul had a ton of events for every age group, I don't think I would complain.  But I think (I hope) my point here is that it's NOT a big shul and they DON'T have many programs - so quit focusing only on a single demographic.  This is something that has upset my mother a few times, and so I thought it was time someone actually spoke up.  Am I out of line in complaining (gently)?  Here's the kvetch I sent to the shul's Executive Director, with a cc to the program organizer. 
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2011 6:38 PM
Subject: Fw: Upcoming JFI Programs

[people's names here]:
 
I thought I should let you know that I was disappointed by promotions for the upcoming Lag b'Omer BBQ, which apparently only welcomes "couples" and "young families."  I don't consider myself to be either a couple or a young family (though we have young kids), but even if we were, I'd still prefer events that include a wide demographic including singles, older people and childless couples.
The fact that the shul is specifically excluding ANYONE makes me very uncomfortable.  This is no small thing - words matter.  Since there's still a couple of weeks to go between now and Lag b'Omer, perhaps you could even change the wording of the flyer so nobody's feelings are hurt.  I realize this is a Jewish Family Institute event, but Jewish families are multigenerational and diverse, so it would be nice if everybody in the shul felt welcome if they wanted to come.
 
(p.s.  In case you're wondering, this is a disturbing trend I've noticed - lots of "young couple" and "young family" programming through JFI, which is great, but almost nothing for anyone who isn't married or raising kids.  One event last year even said something about "bringing your bubby" - well, not everybody in the shul still HAS a bubby... and some people actually ARE bubbies, but still want to feel included.)
 
Just my thoughts - thanks for listening!

Comments

  1. Brava! Just because a shul has a large cohort of "young families" (whatever those are - do 45-year-old parents of a 10-month-old baby count?) doesn't mean they can or should exclude others. I'm glad you called them out.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are totally "in line" and I think it's awesome that you are standing up for yourself and others who don't "fit".

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love your comments!

Popular posts from this blog

לימודי קודש/Limudei Kodesh Copywork & Activity Printables

Welcome to my Limudei Kodesh / Jewish Studies copywork and activity printables page.  As of June 2013, I am slowly but surely moving all my printables over to 4shared because Google Docs / Drive is just too flaky for me. What you’ll find here: Weekly Parsha Copywork More Parsha Activities More Chumash / Tanach Activities Yom Tov Copywork & Activities Tefillah Copywork Pirkei Avos / Pirkei Avot Jewish Preschool Resources Other printables! For General Studies printables and activities, including Hebrew-English science resources and more, click here . For Miscellaneous homeschool helps and printables, click here . If you use any of my worksheets, activities or printables, please leave a comment or email me at Jay3fer “at” gmail “dot” com, to link to your blog, to tell me what you’re doing with it, or just to say hi!  If you want to use them in a school, camp or co-op setting, please email me (remove the X’s) for rates. If you just want to say Thank You, here’s a

Hebrew/ עברית & English General Studies Printables

For Jewish Studies, including weekly parsha resources and copywork, click here . If you use any of my worksheets, activities or printables, please leave a comment or email me at Jay3fer “at” gmail “dot” com, to link to your blog, to tell me what you’re doing with it, or just to say hi!  If you want to use them in a school, camp or co-op setting, please email me (remove the X’s) for rates. If you enjoy these resources, please consider buying my weekly parsha book, The Family Torah :  the story of the Torah, written to be read aloud – or any of my other wonderful Jewish books for kids and families . English Worksheets & Printables: (For Hebrew, click here ) Science :  Plants, Animals, Human Body Math   Ambleside :  Composers, Artists History Geography Language & Literature     Science General Poems for Elemental Science .  Original Poems written by ME, because the ones that came with Elemental Science were so awful.  Three pages are included:  one page with two po

It's Heart Month: 3 days left to save lives!

Dear Friends & Family: Hi, everybody! Sorry I can’t stop by in person... you're a bit out of my area.  :-) We’re out walking up and down on our street on this beautiful afternoon to raise money for Heart & Stroke.  This cause is important to me (I won't say it's close to my heart , because that would be tacky!).  I hope you'll join me by donating online. Growing up, I watched as every single one of my grandparents' lives were shortened by heart disease and strokes, and my father had a defibrillator that saved his life on more than one occasion.  Heart disease and stroke kill 1 in 3 Canadians and are the #1 killer of women. Please click this link to be redirected to my main page at the Heart & Stroke website: http://tinyurl.com/AtlasHeart Thus ends my personal appeal.  Official information follows.  :-))) ----- Heart disease and stroke is the #1 killer of women - taking more women's lives than all forms of cancer combined. But no one is immune. Th