By Virginia Bou Merhi

My children, I worry about you. Watching you giggling and rolling on the floor, or spinning until dizzy and sick. Part of me feels you're too young and displaced from the big bads of the world to feel the effects. Another part of me knows you will feel them more acutely than anyone in a few short years.

Any parent fears the standard scrapes and bruises of childhood, stresses over milestones, and dreads the first time you have your heart broken. But this, this is different.

You're an exuberant, precocious little boy and my two precious baby girls. I want you to grow up respecting others, feeling confident regardless of gender, and not being ostracized because you're part Middle-Eastern. How can I protect you in this swampy world of executive-endorsed bullying, gender inequality and hate-speech?

I can't.

It is up to you, our children, to stand up for the America you want. Whether this administration lasts eight years or eight months, the effects will continue to be felt for a generation: your generation.

I don't have magic advice for you on how to make this happen. Right now, one of you is still struggling with potty training, and the other two are most interested in chewing their own feet. Yet still, you are more capable of eventually fixing the isolationist self-centered policies and blunders of this administration than our current head of state.

Please don't think this means you have to be politicians -- Lord knows, we have too many already -- but it does mean you have to be political. Stand up for yourselves and others. Speak out against injustices. Reach out to those who are persecuted. Show the world the attitudes of the American people are not reflected in these new policies.

Domestically, remember we are all human. Don't degrade or persecute people who vote for or support the ideas you don't agree with. They have their own viewpoint and reasoning, and with a few exceptions, most are just decent people trying to do what's best for their families. Never assume you know what is motivating someone. Instead of insulting those of opposing views to achieve your goals, inspire change with your own actions.

As your parents, we will do our best to set the example and affect the attitudes and environments of our communities for the better, but as the new generation, your voices will reverberate longer and with more power.

You are capable. You are intelligent. You can do more than you will ever think possible simply by being driven, decent people who are self-aware and champions for yourselves and the oppressed.

The only mistake you can make is to close your eyes.

Virginia Bou Merhi is originally from Roseburg, Ore., but now lives in Reno with her husband, exuberant 3-year-old boy and twin baby girls.