Season 2 Ep1: Coming out of isolation, school bubbles and why Black Lives Matter

The Smythes: Another 49 year old dad/11 year old daughter family podcast - A podcast by The Smythes

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It's been a long time...far too long.  So much has changed, but one thing hasn't: Martha still insists on eating whilst we're recording.Like many of you, we've found recent times pretty tough. We really haven't been up for recording over the past couple of months, and I wasn't going to push it.  But as some semblance of normal has returned here at least, it felt like the time was right.  We discuss how we've been, how bad I've been at home schooling, and how Martha has coped with being with us 24/7.On a more positive note, Martha is now back at school; she is Year 6 so in that transition period between schools so was amongst the first to be recalled.  It's something we thought long and hard about, whether it was the right thing to do for us and for others, but as we discuss, it's not a black and white situation.  Early days, but it looks like it has been a positive step for Martha, at least, despite the strange environment.We then talked Black Lives Matter and the recent protests; NB I left ft this section fairly unedited and I didn't want to interrupt too much as I genuinely wanted to hear M's thoughts and how she understands the situation.  There are definitely some gaps in there which we'll address in future, but what comes across clear, and always has done, is that she and the majority of her friends, don't see race/sexuality/religious beliefs as reasons to treat people differently, and that's a start.  But what's clear now is that all of us have to do more to redress the lack of equality in certain areas, and I've been educated recently, for sure.  We had discussed the issues previously at home as I wasn't sure how much Martha knew as we've been restricting the news in the house mainly due to apocalyptic coronavirus coverage.  Turns out TikTok, and influencers, have done their bit to spread the word; I'm not going to claim I'm comfortable with it as a news source but the message definitely got put across.Martha's recommendation of the week is a strange but entertaining Boris mashup, and then, inexplicably, a gif, which doesn't really work for audio.  But the message is relevant, at least.So we're back, fingers crossed for a while, and we hope you enjoy listening! 

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