When my children ask about who I am voting for President
She beamed with so much pride as we walked down her school’s hallway. It was parent night and bursting through the doors my daughter had so much excitement about what she accomplished in the last six weeks, how much she has progressed on her reading and what she wanted at the book fair. As I looked at the walls covered in Halloween decorations there was this huge board that asked . . . more liked begged the children “Who will you be voting for in this year’s presidential election?” Under the words is a big picture of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump with facts and figures under each candidate. I rolled my eyes.
Our family loves to talk about politics. When grandma was visiting we watched the Republican Convention and the Democrat Convention. We watch the debates. We have discussions at the dinner table. This is what our family does and we all have completely different opinions. So when she looked up at the mural with both candidates beaming with pride saying “Mommy, Look!” I knew she was very proud that at 6 years old she could name each candidate. So I smiled back and I said that is nice. My thoughts carried me elsewhere almost in relief that my children didn’t have to hear the horrible things being said about these two candidates whose faces were glued to an elementary school wall. I almost couldn’t stand my little girl under a Trump head leering over her considering the things he has said about women. On the other hand the other big head on the wall of Hillary was smiling back but I wasn’t impressed. If these were the only two people left in the word that I needed to watch my children for 5 minutes — my most precious gift I can say with 100% certainty that I would trust them with Hillary. Her eyes lighting up her big cardboard face on the wall.
A few days later Grandma asked my daughter “Who are you voting for?” My daughter yelled out “Trump!” I almost wanted to cringe in horror but I let my daughter enjoy the moment with Grandma. Then Grandma looked at me with a coy expression that reminded me of The Dark Side of The Force and said to my daughter “You are Grandma’s girl!” Ok I relented because she is Grandma and I shot her a look as if to say You may have won this round but I’ll be back!
My 5 year old son has a different personality from my daughter. He doesn’t regularly seek approval publicly the way my daughter does. When we watched the second debate he was playing with blocks in the living room as I sat in my chair. On our large screen television both candidates stood out in high definition. They vollied questions, insults and rhetoric back and forth between them. My son wasn’t really paying attention . . . or was he? When Trump made an accusation about Clinton (one of many) my son looked at the TV with big eyes in shock then looked at me with the stare of “Did he just say that? He is going to get in trouble.” Even at 5 years old he knows when somebody is being a bully or when somebody is “acting out.” He retreated and curled up in my lap. When I asked him who he was voting for he said “Him” and then pointed at Hillary — ok I will take that. I told my son that Hillary is a she but my son insists that Hillary is a he.
Politics is never an easy subject to discuss with my children. It was just a topic that wasn’t very interesting to them. As we were making our way home I asked my daughter in the car what she wanted to be when she grew up? She told me, “Mommy I want to president.” I told her that there have not been any girl presidents in the past. She didn’t believe me. I said if Hillary wins she will be the first girl president — just like what you want to be. My daughter smiled. I asked her “As president what would you give to the people of the United States?” She sat there for a moment looking out the window. The pause was long with just the whirring of the car engine as we sat in traffic with many other people trying to make it home to their families. She yelled out “Recess. More recess.” I told her, “Mommy would love more recess. You will make a great president. You are kind, calm and you care about people. I would love for my president to have those qualities.” She sat there and smiled still looking out the window. With sleepy eyes as we entered into the garage she said “Mommy, I am going to vote for Hillary!” Score one point for me over Grandma!
