this year, voting was a family affair. i really want my children to know the importance and privilege it is to vote, so we had a lesson on voting (i actually do this every election).
first, we told the kiddies about the propositions and what they were about…in kiddie terms. then we asked them what they felt about them. we tried not to influence them to much, i just wanted to hear what they thought. so cute!
second, we had a mini election. kind of silly….but they liked it. daddy pretended he was Mickey Mouse, mommy was Donald Duck. we told them they had to pick one of us to be the household leader and we told them what we would do…i.e. what we would make for dinner, what time would be bedtime, what kind of chores they would have, etc. then using pretend ballots they voted for one of us. mommy and daddy voted too. i won….hee hee!
then, we went to the polls. we let them come in the voting booth with us and see how to vote. they were surprisingly good…probably because they got to be involved in the process. they loved it.
it really was a fun family activity. educational too. hopefully, they will be excited to get to vote when they are old enough.
yep…we are lucky to live in a democracy.
Yes, it is so important for the kids to learn about this at home. I have been so surprised that some teenagers know so little these days. I was talking to a college guy and he didn’t even know what the political parties were. And another kid didn’t even know they could vote at 18!
We make voting a big deal at our house too! When our kiddos get older I think we’ll do that kiddo voting thing too!!