The Sandbox Revolution: Raising Kids for a Just World

by Lydia Wylie-Kellermann (editor)

It is a complex time to be a parent. Our climate is in crisis, and economic inequality is deepening. Racialized violence is spreading, and school shootings are escalating. How do we, as parents, cultivate in our children a love of the earth, a cry for justice, and a commitment to nonviolence? Where do we place our bodies so we teach our kids that resistance is crucial and change is possible? What practices do we hold as a family to encourage them to work with their hands, honor their hearts, and nurture their spirits?

The Sandbox Revolution calls upon our collective wisdom to wrestle with the questions, navigate the challenges, offer concrete practices, and remind parents of the sacredness of the work. Written by parents who are also writers, pastors, teachers, organizers, artists, gardeners, and activists, this anthology offers a diversity of voices and experiences on topics that include education, money, anti-racism, resistance, spirituality, disability justice, and earth care.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Social Justice

303 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 30, 2021

About the author

Lydia Wylie-Kellermann is a writer, editor, activist, and mother. She lives with her partner and two boys in the neighborhood where she grew up in southwest Detroit. She is the managing editor of Geez magazine, a quarterly, non-profit, ad-free, print magazine at the intersection of art, activism, and faith. She is the editor of The Sandbox Revolution: Raising Kids for a Just World (Broadleaf, 2021).

Reviews

[Lydia Wylie-Kellermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I can’t pretend I am unbiased after holding these beautiful dreams and stories in my hands for the last couple of years. As the editor, it was my work to ask the questions and gather a circle. As a mother who hungers for justice, the questions raised in this book have ached deep inside me for years. I can tell you that every single chapter has had an affect on my life. Patterns have shifted. Discernment and decisions impacted. Even the words I utter to my kids have found their way from these pages. I am so grateful for the amazing human beings who vulnerably wrote. I am grateful that all of us keep writing the unfinished chapters with our lives. Let’s keep holding one another in this hard and messy work of parenting.

[Laura Alary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading The Sandbox Revolution was like wrapping my hands around a mug of hot tea and sitting down with a particularly passionate and well-informed circle of friends. Being a parent is hard--all the more so when you go about it with sensitivity to the many injustices in our world and a desire to "bend the arc" a bit more toward justice. With chapters on things like handling money, making decisions about education, tending to the environment, grappling with racism and patriarchy, this collection of essays offers a stimulating blend of challenge, wisdom, and support.

[Lydia Bucklin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raising children in the world today feels like a challenge unlike no other. How do we raise kids with integrity and kindness and a fierce compassion? This book is such a gem. It’s a collection of so many great examples of others trying to do their best to change the world one amazing kid at a time.

[Lucia Wylie-Eggert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is right on time. Parenting is magical, creative, and HARD. In our individualistic culture, the trials of parenthood can feel lonely. The Sandbox Revolution pulls collective wisdom and offers a bridge to community support for all of us raising children. So good.

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just couldn’t finish it. I’ve started each of these essays, and though I didn’t have issues with all of them, none of them moved me, and several were so deeply steeped in privilege that I can’t imagine how any normal person could take anything substantial from this book.

An essay on money that is mostly hand wringing about disposable income? An essay about education from parents who home school? Really??

Not only are many of these essays not grounded in working class or marginalized struggle, they are wholly irrelevant for the majority of parents trying to make ends meet.

[Melanie Weldon-Soiset · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very grateful for this book, which has hopeful and empowering food for thought even for readers like me who don't have children. For any of us who care about the next generation, and/or what kind of legacy and world we'll leave behind, I highly recommend The Sandbox Revolution!

[Rosalind C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading The Sandbox Revolution is like going on a retreat with a bunch of parents, grandparents, village elders, and improvisers, sitting around the campfire exchanging ideas, receiving inspiration, affirmation, commiseration, and solidarity as needed. As Jennifer Harvey writes in her chapter, “Find yourself some people. Because parenting is hard. It is never dull. It is sacred and beautiful. But it is hard. And we all need one another ...” Rooted in justice and bearing fruit, this book is full of the stories of generous companions on the way.

[Bill Kellerman]

So glad to find this here.

[Erinn Fahey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am halfway in and this collection of essays have touched, affirmed, and prodded me. What a great resources on this parenting journey. It is nice to have a variety of perspectives on different topics: money, spirituality, place, education, etc. It is vulnerable and honest. It is not necessary to read from start to finish, you can easily hop around depending on the topic of interest.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sandbox revolution – raising kids for a just world edited by Lydia Wylie-Kellermann gathers voices to offer perspective on the raising of children by parents who would work to change/heal/intentionally thrive in the world. The voices are not all the same, nor from the same cultural perspective, but each one arrives in the pages with hope for their own struggle with parenting and for their own “children.”
Most of the authors are of my children’s generation. It is interesting looking at their world and watching them realize that they, too, cannot control who their children become. Rather, they must learn from their children as any parent might. The issues they face are both old and new. Each generation must work these things out for themselves. One feels the sincerity and ingenuity of these folks who indeed have something to share and, in so doing, bring some light to paths for justice.
Sandbox revolution is an interesting read for just about anyone, but especially for those who have committed themselves to both their family and to making this world more just.

[Cheryl Klein · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of essays about parenting by, largely, progressive Christians. In terms of content, I applaud the effort to ask what aspects of an unjust society we can push against in domestic life; to not just accept our culture's default settings. But much of the writing, while competent, feels like listening to a gentle sermon. I have a bit of an allergy to the imperative verb tense, even couched in personal stories, and I found myself imagining a bunch of crunchy, churchy people whose children stage protests rather than watch YouTube. That made the handful of essays that were more poetic, imperfect, and spiky stand out. I particularly liked Nick Peterson's discussion of infertility and chosen family; Michelle Martinez's braiding of environmentalism and motherhood; and Laurel Dykstra's "Confessions of a Bad Movement Parent."

[Trishwah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for church parenting group. As an anthology, some chapters resonated more than others. Some felt really close to how we approach things as a family or how I think about them as a parent. Some were a bit uncomfortable (or made me defensive). Some were just ... silly. Like the essay where the dad gets up to read stories or play music while mom nurses... Dude, SLEEP while you can. And that was the gender chapter which I think doesn't even scratch the surface of gender issues that parents and families deal with. This book might appeal to left leaning readers, but I don't think it will do much for readers of other persuasions.

[Jennifer Dianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

With two young, energetic children I don't make time for reading the way I used to, and I am selective about what I read! I am about 2/3rds through this thoughtfully-crafted book written by parents who are asking the questions I want to be asking. Each essay is approachable and the reflection questions that follow each are so helpful in helping to digest the content and apply it to my own family and values.
Highly recommend!

[Liz Grauel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The good sections in this book are very, very good. I particularly enjoyed the writing on education and anti racism. I was happy to read so much about respecting children and entrusting them with their own lives. A timely read with thought provoking points about raising children amidst an unpredictable future, the power of community, and doing the work, as adults, to dismantle the systems that threaten a time we will not live to see but will send our children into.

[Caitlin Homrich-Knieling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book with my husband as our six-month-old sleeps, and it’s SO GOOD! The questions at the end of the chapters have prompted some of the best discussions we’ve ever had about our marriage and family. And the chapters introduce so many new ideas about the boundaries and values of parenting and intentionally building your family.

[Kateri Boucher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deeply rich and powerful collection of stories... I feel better moving into the future just knowing that this book is out in the world, and that the children raised in these families will be teaching us all for a long time to come.

[Lindsey Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought-provoking - raises excellent questions on a variety of justice-related topics. I wish it had more explicit suggestions of what to do with kids, although I think a big point is that values are caught, not taught. Highly recommend.

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few of the chapters were really thought-provoking, particularly the ones about education, antiracism, and risk.

[Anne Luck-Deak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the different perspectives in this book. Although I didn’t connect with all of them I definitely found some good ideas to chew on, which I really appreciated.

[Xan Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Parenting is such hard work. And parenting children in this climate can feel hopeless and lonely. The sandbox revolution: raising kids for a just world offers real life experiences that invite us to explore ways to parent intentionally. The stories affirmed the questions I have been wrestling with and provided me an opportunity to explore new ways of thinking and doing with my partner, fellow parents, and my faith community. This collection of stories is full of wisdom, vulnerability, and hope.