Kate is a conservative mom of several children. She lives in Manhattan. Her real name is not Kate and it’s unsafe to say how many children she has. The last thing she can afford is retaliation against her young children at school or her husband at work. 

As someone who believes in freedom, living in New York City is not easy. She is in a non-stop fight to keep her family safe from authoritarianism, Marxism, and tyranny.

Here is her story:

Erin: Kate, Thank you for taking the time to chat with me. How did you end up in New York City?

Kate: My husband received a job opportunity and we packed our bags and headed off to the land of opportunity and of acceptance and of excitement. The greatest city in the world!

Erin: When did you realize that your value system did not fit the New York ethos?

Kate: Right around the time my oldest child started pre-k. Meeting moms and dads and hearing their often misguided and “quoted” rhetoric on policy, health, and their conservative counterparts.

Erin: Your children are school-aged, how do you keep them sane and safe in an era of masks, vaccine mandates, critical race theory, trans children, and liberal insanity?

Kate: At the onset of COVID we refused to allow our children to feel any sort of fear. We educated our oldest children on how the majority of the world views sickness and health and how different our approach has always been. We went over real-life scenarios of times prior to COVID that our kids didn’t get sick when their peers did because of how we approach health and wellness. We do NOT over-sanitize, we do not eat Junk food often, we do not eat school lunches, we take our daily vitamins, we use essential oils and we make sure we limit screen time and maximize creativity and physical activity.

Our kids have never felt scared because we have never felt scared. We did not introduce the spirit of fear in our children therefore it was not taken seriously when anyone (teacher, friend, etc.) tried to scare them.

I have a constant open line of communication with the teachers and administrators in our school. I am constantly requesting that my children be left out of certain conversations about critical race theory, any sort of sex education, or conversations about vaccines, etc. So far they have been respectful and have not crossed the line of inappropriate teaching methods or conversations.

I think the key to staying sane in a large city like New York City is to know your rights as a parent, and your children’s rights as students, as protected by both federal and state laws. The DOE does not have the power to make laws, New York State laws cannot supersede federal laws, and no one has the power over you as a parent. So, many Manhattan moms just accept the status quo and do as they are told. They don’t investigate anything and have no desire to know if what the DOE is doing/teaching/enforcing is legal.

I have also taught my children to stick up for themselves. They can say no to coerced COVID tests, it’s their body it’s their choice. I also encourage them to take their masks off during the day at school, they need to have breaks. I encourage them to go sit in the bathroom and take their mask completely off their face for a few minutes. They are learning to tell other children it’s none of their business when asked inappropriate medical questions. They have become so strong throughout all of this, they will never be children or young adults who just blindly follow the masses. They have learned that just because you love your teacher or your administrator doesn’t mean that they are always right. Even adults make mistakes. That has been one of the keys to this COVID learning session for them. Health doesn’t come in the form of a swab up your nose or a needle in your arm… mental acuity and physical strength are the keys to health in my opinion, and that is what I am teaching my children.

Erin: Are your friends like-minded? If not, how do you co-exist, and do you try to turn them into conservatives?

Kate: I have turned quite a few friends. 🤣 I have a few social circles and some are more conservative than others, some seek to understand the only conservative person (me) they know, and some are liberal and will be liberal till the day they die. Mutual respect is very important. One thing I have realized, people’s views are mostly all driven out of fear. At the end of the day, a lot of the decisions we make are made out of fear… fear of retaliation, fear of losing your life, fear of losing your freedom, or fear of making a mistake with lasting ramifications.

So if you understand that a parent is making the best decision they can for their children and there is fear driving that decision, it makes you more empathetic and compassionate. Where I lose my patience with some of these Manhattan moms is when they won’t even look to the other side of the aisle. They watch CNN/Fauci/President Biden and blindly follow their marching orders. I have walked away from a few shallow friendships that can’t see the hypocrisy and the flip-flopping and who have tried to intentionally persuade my children into their way of thinking.

My favorite [turning] moment was a friend who voted for Hillary and would open debate on subjects like Former President Trump, Justice Kavanaugh, global warming, etc. She always ended the lively debates by saying “you should really run for office, I won’t vote for you but I would love to see you run!” Let’s just say, now 3 years later, she would indeed vote for me and would most likely help run my campaign. Spoiler alert: she voted for President Trump in 2020!

Erin: Do you have advice for other moms like you who are living in similar situations? How do they forge a path, stay strong, make friends and remain happy?

Kate: First thing you’ll have to do if you’re living in a very liberal state or city is to know your rights. A lot of these politicians speak very confidently and they make demands of their constituents and you’ll be shocked to find that most of it is just bluster, unenforceable and unconstitutional. Know your rights, know your children’s rights and act accordingly.

Politicians shouldn’t be able to ruin cities or friendships for that matter. Find friends who may disagree with you, but respect you as a person. These liberal cities run on common themes of equality and fairness. It is not within the spirit of the cities to shun people who do not agree with you.

Also, you do need a backbone of like-minded friends. You need a well to refill yourself when you are feeling discouraged and you also will need a sunny and freedom-loving state to escape too frequently. 🤣

I always say I love New York City too much to allow politicians to ruin it for me. I am in it to win it for the long haul. New York City was great before this current administration took over. And it will continue to be great in a different way. New York City is more than restaurants and museums. There is nature here, there is history here, culture, and love, there is so much to be seen outside the walls of restaurants and museums.

We can’t let a few greedy and power-hungry politicians ruin this. If all of the good conservative people leave cities like New York, what will they become? What will happen to these centers of culture and history? NYC needs to survive and thrive and those of us whose hearts beat with the city need to stay and fight for what we believe.