ALL IN THE FAMILY? Your opinion, please....

Like many school children, my son's class has been studying the election process in recent weeks (4th grade). Some of the assignments involved with this project were researching the views of both presidential candidates on various topics, finding photos of the candidate you believe should be elected and making a campaign poster for your candidate. Many of the kids, including my son, were very excited about all of this and enjoyed talking about it outside of class as well.

My son happened to chose the same candidate my husband and I support, but he went back and forth a bit before finally deciding. No doubt, our answers to some of his questions influenced him, just as the decisions of many other kids were probably influenced by their parents. I got a real kick out of looking at the posters this week, as you could tell just who was influenced and who was not!

However, I was very surprised by my son's question after they all voted. He asked, "Would you and Daddy have been mad if I chose {the other guy}?" So, I told of him, "Of course not." I explained that we were happy to explain to him why we thought as we did...and I did joke around with him by saying, "Nah...we'll just make fun of you!" But, then he told me that some kids were told by their parents that they HAD to vote for the candidate their parent favored.

So, that got me thinking...should you really try to influence a kid politically so early, or let him/her form their own opinion? I mean, it's not like they can vote at this point, anyway! : )

What do you think?

Here's another site for kids aimed at impressing the importance of voting: http://www.kidsvotingusa.org/

Comments

[liza]

hi kiim! firts i'd like to thank you for stopping by and making a comment ;)

i think we shouldn't influence our kids to vote for our candidates. what we should do is tell them why we are voting for them and not the other, then it's up for them to decide who's better for them.

cheers

[laura]

I think all kids are influenced politically by their parents. In our case, so far, all of my children who are old enough see our point in that the cnadidate who we support matches our values. In my sister's case, however, her daughter has gone against the family grain. In my aunt's family there are mixed opinions, too. SHe has a different outlook than her parents did, but her younger brother and my mom never strayed from the family political line.

I think younger children are more likely to agree with their parents. When they mature, as teenagers sometimes they are attracted to the opposite view of their parents. My oldest girl is showing signs of this. I hope, however, that her instruction in her early years will win out, and that her poltical choices will reflect the values we've worked so hard to instill.

We didnt' set out to farm people who have like political opinions, but we teach our values. If they learn them and adopt them, they'll take on the mantle of responsibility for their own political choices.

[Helene]

Hey, there! Boy am I far behind1 Just catching up on your site today after (obviously) not looking in a while. Anyway, you know I teach 8th grade ss (Amer. History) so needles to say we talked about the election a lot. Of course the kids always ask who I am votng for, and I always tell them that I can't tell them because as their teacher I am there to teach them about making decisions, not make their decisions for them. Sadly, I think there are a lot of ss teachers who have no problem wearing their political affiliations on their sleeve, and I just don't like that. I will correct any misinformation they have and teach them about reliable and unreliable internet sites, butI try to stay on the fence as much as possible so they make up their own mind. Plus, I never want a kid to think they have to think like me to get a good grade or be liked. Okay, take care!