There's something truly beautiful about a child who is passionate about something. For some kids, that passion is ignited by personal experience, while for others, witnessing an event springs them into action. All these kids are open to taking their big ideas and making big changes.
When a child is passionate about a cause, there's nothing better that a family can do than support that passion. Kids have the capability to change the world. Sometimes, all they need is a little support from those closest to them.
These unique families illustrate what kids are capable of with the love and support of their parents.
The Jennings Family
Jazz Jennings and her family, who are known publicly by their pseudonyms, have been LGBTQ activists for practically all of Jazz's life. Jazz's parents, Greg and Jeanette, have been loving and supportive throughout her journey as a trans youth. Jazz's siblings — Ari, Sander, and Griffen — have also been involved in her activism.
Jazz is one of the youngest people to publicly transition, which has been documented throughout her reality series I Am Jazz. Jazz's family runs the TransKids Purple Rainbow Foundation (TKPRF), which aims to make it easier in communities and society overall for transgender and gender-nonconforming kids and their families.
The Johnson Dias Family
Marley Dias was 15 in 2015 when she grew frustrated with being assigned books to read at school that only centered white characters. Together with activist mom Janice Johnson Dias, cofounder of the GrassROOTS Community Foundation, she came up with the idea for #1000BlackGirlBooks. Marley organized a drive to collect 1,000 books with Black girls as the main characters to donate to her mother's school in Jamaica.
Based on her experience, Marley wrote a book. Marley Dias Gets It Done (and So Can You) aims to inspire other young activists. She believes anyone can make changes to the world with a little help from family and community. Janice has also written a book, Parent Like It Matters: How to Raise Joyful, Change-Making Girls.
The al-Abed Family
With the help of her English-speaking mother, Fatemah, Bana al-Abed joined Twitter to start sharing the child experience of the siege in Aleppo, Syria, in 2016. The 7-year-old shared harrowing perspectives from a child watching her world fall apart. Her father, Ghassan, is a lawyer who worked for the ruling local council in southeastern Aleppo and was injured in the 2016 siege.
Bana and her family continue to speak out against global atrocities. In 2017, Bana wrote a book, Dear World: A Syrian Girl's Story of War and Plea for Peace. Along with her two brothers, Bana is back to pursuing an education. Most recently, she's been sharing scenes from Ukraine as children there face the heartbreak and devastation she once lived through.
The Arnold-Eckelberger Family
Jaylen Arnold was never ashamed to be different. By the age of 8, he'd been diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome, Asperger's syndrome, and obsessive compulsive disorder. He has also experienced his share of bullying. Jaylen wanted to make a change, so with the help of his parents, Robin Arnold Eckelberger and Neil Eckelberger, and his sister, Nina, he started Jaylen's challenge.
Jaylen wanted to promote awareness and prevention of bullying through education and community service. He began by sharing his own story on YouTube with the help of his parents. Today, that has grown to speaking events at schools, seminars, and more. In 2017, Jaylen was even honored with the Diana Award by Prince Harry and Prince William.
The Emezi Family
Sisters Akwaeke and Yagazie Emezi are sharing the lived experiences of people across the African diaspora. Yagazie, who lives with the scars of being run over by a truck at 6 years old, uses photography to explore scars as proof of these experiences rather than tokens of survived violence. Akwaeke explores similar themes, as well as the theme of honoring and breaking with tradition, in her writing.
"There’s this reality that’s considered mainstream, where beauty looks like X,” Akwaeke told Vogue.
"We're stepping outside that reality, and we're saying we're not going to move."
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