It’s interesting to watch how things like elections play out among children and in school, and what I’ve noticed during the last couple presidential elections is that children can easily become polarized and even hateful during such times. As I’ve listened to my kids process the elections, it’s helped me understand how we reflect our views onto our children. That’s healthy and normal and as it should be. Until they have the capability of making their own informed decisions, they look to us to model for and guide them. They are also influenced by their peers, who are similarly influenced by their parents and other family members, which, again, is okay. But I am alarmed when I hear stories of kids being mean to others because of how their parents voted. I think it’s fine to impart our political leanings onto our children, and to explain to them at their level why we feel the way we do. I think it’s equally important not to demonize the opposition. It’s one thing to have convictions. I admire that greatly. But when it moves beyond convictions and turns into hate, I shake my head and wonder how it is we got so off track. Oh, there are many guilty forces — the media among them. But in the end, along with the molding and guiding, we also need to teach our children love. I’m afraid that didn’t happen in the classroom of at least one of my children today, where one boy went home with a heavy heart because his political thoughts did not mesh with the majority of his classmates’. We are failing our children when we do not pass down our ideals and the reasons for them. We fail them even more when we do not pass down our responsiblity to project our passions lovingly.
Here’s a story related to the election that is a little more lighthearted. Of our seven family members, four of us leaned toward McCain-Palin, one seemed neutral and/or apathetic, and the other two rooted loudly for Obama. The latter two were our youngest boys, ages 3 and 5. Apparently, one of our kindergartener’s classmates convinced him to go for Obama. In turn, he convinced his younger brother to go to his side. Personally, I think they simply liked the sound of Obama’s name better. What this little microcosm of the outer world shows me is that we can model all we want, but in the end, our children are going to be individuals and have their own minds about things. I’m glad I’m learning that lesson now, because I have a feeling I will need to fall back on that many times through the years. My parents always encouraged me to find my own path, and made it clear they would love me no matter what. Now, I see this as one of the greatest gifts I’ve received from them besides life itself.
As for the Obama win, I could not vote for him in good conscience for several reasons, but I get it. I really do. Having grown up on the Ft. Peck Reservation in Northeast Montana, I glimpsed and even experienced at times the inner life of a racial minority. White privilege is a reality and those who have been oppressed historically have found new life in this choice, and their tears of joy are real. I do hope Obama can come through for us. He has a tough road ahead, as would any candidate in these days. The true test of his character will be revealed in time and I will pray for a good outcome. In the meantime, and even though Obama was not my choice, I do feel real happiness for those who have been waiting for this day and, for the first time ever, perhaps, feel that their voices will count. Those of us who voted differently still have choices and a voice as well.
Above all, let us move forward with grace, and even more importantly, take a good nap if necessary. After all, even Batman needs to once in a while!
Well said! Little ears hear more than we think they do..and need guidence in processing all the information that surrounds them everyday..TALK and Listen…my famous last words. The loving no matter what part..that is the part to focus on:)
As a child, I related more to your younger childrens story…choosing a candidate because “I like his name!” or “He’s from a State where my Uncles from!” and etc. I have never seen an election where children so young have transparently taken on all the negativity of an election such as this one. Sadly, my children- 5th and 7th graders both experienced disrespectful hate and nastiness today -even from close friends, as did a friends second grader and another Kindergartner all whom who were disturbed by the name calling. (especially “baby killer”) These children and many others have heard our new President elect called “muslim” “baby killer” “socialist” and “terrorist” and I’m sure there are others yet I cannot recall a negative name that the other candidate was called. Children repeat what they hear even when they do not understand these complex issues. I am Pro Life and yet I voted for Obama for many reasons so perhaps that puts me in a unique perspective of seeing both sides, yet I encouraged my children to not name call either of these candidates and to act with civility and grace even when others do not. Our nation has a sense of pride this day for moving past racial issues in a single defining day that we haven’t seen since perhaps the signing of the emmancipation proclamation. It is not a simple byline. It is historic. And there are many many other aspects beside this that are causing the tears of joy- Last night we saw the world come together in celebration of what this changing of the guard represents. We saw a country filled with Hope and immense Joy. And we saw a candidate in defeat set an amazing example of how to concede with great humility and grace as he extended his support and admiration for our new President Elect. His supporters should follow his example. This is not a time if you are on the losing side to be bitter, angry or petty. As adults we need to now leave the name calling behind and act as Americans, not in childish, name calling hate but in unified Hope and we certainly need to be mindful of the negative energy this name calling promotes and realize children mimic what they hear.
I think that in politics….it’s so “Your either with us or against us” and that comes through in the speeches and media portrayal. It’s really awful. And bleeds over to the public.
As someone who has never voted a staight party ballot I find talking politics with people usually very scary.
I do think that it’s interesting that Obama won the election with 53% of the vote. Which isn’t big. And in my county and surrounding counties he did not carry the vote. With only 53% of the vote I would not say that the country came togeather.
I don’t think of Obama as black. And was shocked that the media was playing it up as the first ‘black’ president. That really set me back a bit. Because I never looked at him and saw a ‘black’ man. Just like I don’t look at my uncle and see a ‘mexican’ or my cousin and see a ‘venezualan’ or my cousins children and see children of mix race. I see humans….who are all beautiful. Who are all capable of greatness….and who are all equally capable of making decisions that cause pain to others.
But I guess the media needs an outlet for sensationalism. And they spend an awful lot of time creating sensationalism where non is to be found.
Some felt Obama would lose because he is black, and I am glad that at the very least, those predictions didn’t pan out. From news reports I heard, few voted against him due to color but many voted for him due to color. Like you, I was not considering race in making my choice. I understand why minorities are proud about the choice, however. We tend to root for people who seem to be most like us. It is human nature. And when a history of oppression figures in, not at all surprising.
I would say to Tami that in this election most Americans saw Barack Obama as a man which is exactly the point. They didn’t NOT vote for him because of the color of his skin. It isn’t the only story about why he won but it certainly is historic that 60% of those who voted for him were white. I don’t believe that is sensationalism at all. To think Obama at age 4 Black Americans couldn’t even VOTE and now he is our President IS moving. Also, 14 million more Americans voted in this election than ever before and turnout was the highest in a century, the electoral vote count was 2 to 1 for Obama and so yes, Americans DID come together in huge numbers. Keep in mind the popular vote you referenced is typically over course history within 1-2% this time it was a 5-6 million count victory and much further toward unity than the past 2 Presidential deadlock statistical tie elections. But not all promote divisions to their children as your openness to allow your children to voice approval for whomeever they wish illustrates in this posting Roxane. Children learn what they live and it can be as unified as we make it from here on out.
Hi everyone.
While I consider myself a very non political person. I am very confident the current president we have, his cabinet and this congress can turn our nation’s fortunes around, one step at a time,of course.