I don't consider myself to be very politically minded. There are some things that I have strong opinions on, because they affect me very personally. But for the most part, I don't think that I am knowledgeable enough to rant and rave on politics. I know who I'm voting for, but I don't do campaign contributions. I wouldn't say that politics are a huge part of my life. My Mom, on the other hand, well let me just say straight from the words of my good friend Shannon, "My Mama Loves Obama." Whether you love Obama or not, no one can dispute the fact that this is indeed a historical election. This is why I gladly allowed my Mom to take our three oldest girls with her, my brother, and his girlfriend, to see Obama in uptown Charlotte. With 30,000 other people. I guess there were actually 29,995 other people. :)
They were so excited to tell me all about it when they got home. Before this field-trip, we had rarely spoken about anything political. I guess that I'm not really doing my job, as I do believe that you should raise your kids in a way that encourages the thought process that you believe to be right. This is what parenting is all about. You try to teach your children to be the adults that you hope they turn out to be. So when they come to me with any questions or issues, I feel wonderful and free to discuss the issues and give them my opinions. I guess I just wish that I was initiating more of these conversations.
One of our girls has had more of an interest in these type of conversations then the other kids, but now, after this field-trip, the other girls are suddenly interested. It is wonderful. Brooke even remarked that now she was going to like Social Studies class, because it would be interesting to her. So if for nothing more than that, mission accomplished.
Please ignore the big yellow wrong date in all of these pics.
Kyley looking just so happy to be taking a picture
Brooke and her new best friend
Some security very high in the sky
And the reason for all the security
And a random picture of Charlotte that they found interesting
I'm still working on getting my brother's pics. If he has anything good, I'll post it at a later time. All in all, I feel like my kids have participated in something beyond them. Beyond the scope of middle school drama. Beyond the scope of what we live and do on a daily basis. This was big. I feel that they have grown from this experience, in ways that we wont even know for years to come. So thank-you Mom, yet again, for doing an awesome job.
Oh, and I have to say, Brooke is running for school president, and Rainia is running for school secretary. Both are already through the preliminaries. Good luck girls!
Also, I was given this cool link from a girl on the knot. Thanks Everam. It's just a little game where you can match up your beliefs with what the candidates are saying. They don't let you know till the end who said what. I thought it was interesting, and it confirmed my vote. (I don't know how, but it also confirmed the votes of some of my friends who said they were voting for the other guy) Check it out!
Dear family,
Do not fear. As you well know, not all children turn out thinking politically like their parents, or other siblings. Some go in the opposite direction. Not to mention, I am raising them in the oh-so-open-minded south, where I am sure that they get plenty of the other viewpoint as well. Surely at least one of them will turn out to be on your side. Hell, there are 7 of them. Maybe you will get 2.
P.S.- If you get 2 of them, the other 5 will more than cancel out their votes. hehe.
2 comments:
Hi, I popped over from Baggage's blog and read this post. I'm also not very politically minded but know who I'm voting for. I think it's fantastic that your children went to see one of the candidates speak and were exposed to the election process. I hope to be able to do that for my kids when they get older, they are 2 and 3 now.
The note to your family cracked me up.
My mom will be so jealous when I tell her.
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