My parents always taught me that if you don't have anything good to say, then don't say it in front of the kids. You especially don't talk about politics, religion or anything else that you don't want the general public to know about because small children love to repeat everything. Everything.
So, we don't bad mouth politicians in front of our children. In private, we can say what we want. We are all entitled to our opinions, because we all have them. My parents taught me that too.
At school, my children are learning all about the voting process and the Presidential election has infiltrated every facet of their education for the past couple of weeks. This is pretty exciting for me because politics is my area of expertise and I love seeing them get excited about the process. I like teaching them about democracy and freedom and choices and all that is great about the United States.
What I don't like is picking my children up from school only to hear them repeating derogatory remarks that they learned at school about the politicians. My girls jump into the backseat and before they are even buckled in, my 5-year-old is telling me "So-and-so's mom said that we shouldn't vote for Obama because he is a bad man. He is mean!" She follows that up with, "I'm not voting for a mean man!"
I bite my tongue.
My 7-year-old then says, "Yeah, so-and-so said that his parents said we shouldn't vote for Barack Obama because he will take all of our money! Will he take our money, mommy?" What?
So, because some pendejo parents decided that it's okay for them to run their mouth inappropriately about politics in front of their children, I am in the awkward and uncomfortable position of trying to explain politics to mine. It's sort of like having to talk to your preschooler about sex because some other kid's parent let them watch Cinemax.
I didn't tell my daughter's that so-and-so's parents have big mouths and should keep their opinions to themselves, instead I explained that when they grow up (or even in their mock election at school tomorrow) they can vote for whomever they deem fit because we live in the land of democracy and we have the right to choose who we put into office. I explain that elected officials are put into office by us (we the people), to represent us (we the people).
I explained that when they vote, to remember that the two candidates were nominated because they are both very capable, in their own ways, but we need to vote with our own heart, common sense and on issues, not on who is more handsome, more popular or who our friends are voting for. I explained that at the end of the day, we have to live with our own choices and there are no wrong choices about voting, only different ones.
I small piece of me really misses the 1 and 3-year-old who chanted, "GObama" as they watched the inauguration with me in 2008 but another part of me is really impressed that they care about the election at all at their ages. Of course, my 5-year-old has decreed that tomorrow she will be voting Ritt Momney in her mock election. It's like I don't even know this child anymore.
Either way, I'll still tuck her in, kiss her good night and tell her I love her tomorrow night.
Image via Flickr/ JeffreyLCohen
