It’s February 2019 and already activities are gearing up for the presidential election in November 2020. At least two persons have launched their presidential bids in the past two weeks. Soon, more and more people will announce. I believe that now is a key opportunity to begin discussing with your children what is happening in the political arena and take civics more seriously. Your children will certainly hear statements made outside the home about various politicians, so why not have them engaged at home first so that they can understand the issues involved in the various campaigns and positions of each politician and political party better.
You may be wondering whether your children are even interested in politics and I think that you will be pleasantly surprised that many of them are. In an interesting article online at kidshealth.org entitled Talking Politics: What to Say to Your Kids, the results of a survey conducted by it of more than 2,000 children and teens throughout the United States were revealed. “A whopping 75% of kids and 79% of teens answered ‘yes’ when asked whether they thought that the outcome of an election (presidential) would change their lives. Nearly half of teens surveyed said that they believed they'd had at least some influence on their parents' choice of candidate.”
The article strongly supports talking with your children about their viewpoints and not being critical of what they have to say. Provide them with information and discuss various sides of an issue. This will help them become more analytical and not just rely on a friend’s opinion but actually be able to question why someone has such an opinion and voice their own opinions with confidence.
The coming presidential election is a hot topic and the more your children understand the issues, the more they can actively participate in discussions and enjoy the learning process. They may even want to participate and help a candidate. And, most important of all, when they turn 18 years old, they will want to register to vote because they know their vote matters.
To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.