November is a few months away (!!), and I'm wondering if I should be talking to the kids about the importance of voting. The thing is, they are only 4 and 6 - is that too early to be talking about this stuff with children? It's not that the subject is too mature or anything... I'm just wondering if they will care at all.
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When I do vote, I try to take the eldest (6) along with me. I don't think I'm explaining it correctly or he's not understanding it. But he likes to get a sticker and put the ballot in the electronic machine.
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LO always comes with me to vote and I've explained to her enough times she knows why we (adults) vote. She tells the voting check in people our street address and puts the ballot in the machine and loves getting a sticker!
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I took my son with me to vote in the primary election and I did explain it as simply as possible but he's 2 so I didn't expect it to make much sense.
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Of course it isn't too young! My kids have always come to vote, and I think it's an important part of my job to teach them good citizenship. That means talking in an age appropriate way about why we vote and what kinds of effects our votes can have. The Daniel Tiger episode about voting was helpful when DD1 was younger, but kids get making choices and they get having leaders, so I don't think it's hard for them to get the general concept of carefully choosing our leaders. E idea of making our own rules is empowering, I think. My oldest (3.5) is really interested this year.
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We've definitely been talking about the election. I vote absentee by email, but I'll explain it to my older one when I receive my ballot. My DH has taken my son to vote for European elections.
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I take DD with me to the polls every year in November and for the primaries. She is 2.5 so she has no idea what's going on, but she does enjoy stickers and shaking the election officials hands.... I think it's more about normalizing going to vote and having your kids watch you make it a priority at very young ages. You could probably explain it a little by saying something like "In our country, every grownup gets a chance to pick the people who make the rules for everyone".
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I took them to vote in the primary but I don't think my then 2 year old got it. She liked the sticker and thought daddy should be president. (Given our choices it's not the worst idea...)
I will definitely be taking my two girls to vote for the first woman president though.
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DH and I have taken the kids with us to vote, and we teach them about the process so that they can understand. We try to make it as simple as possible. Daniel Tiger has a great episode about voting.
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8 comments