Teach your child the importance of a vote

My son’s too young to be a part of Generation We, but his heart is right there with them. I hope we can make the world a place where he and his peers can live.Today, I brought the KoE with me to the polls. He woke up right at seven this morning, excited to vote for his hero. We got to our polling place at around 7:30 in the morning, with breakfast in his backpack and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in my purse. The line stretched around two long city blocks, but we made our way merrily to the end where we hunkered down for a long walk to the poll. I read to him aloud from his new favorite book, and we munched on carrot cake muffins, chatted with the older woman behind us in line. Occasionally, the line would speed up the block… as we got closer we found that expediters were walking down the line and asking for last names to fill the lines inside. We walked with our new-found friend into the polling area and found the T-Z line inside.

The volunteers were wonderful. Smart, efficient, kind, friendly, glad to be there, and glad to see us. The Kid was heartbroken to find he wasn’t actually allowed to vote today, but he came with me to the booth to fill our our ballot. No hanging chads, no difficult matching. We connected our arrows with dark, thick pencil lines, and and walked to our final line. The King of Everything proudly fed our ballot to the scanning machine and we collected our I Voted sticker. He positively shone. You see, my son has been a fan of Obama’s since last year’s “Yes We Can” video aired. He loves the message that Obama espouses. He even made his own sign, Pre-K for Obama, and walked it down to his school, to honks and waves and cheers.

As we left the polls, I suggested he might want to zip up his jacket. “No, mama,” he said, patting his sticker. I know how he feels. I’m pretty proud of my little sticker, too.

Bring your children with you to the polls, single mothers. Let them see how important this right is. Help them to understand that your vote is your voice, and without it, no one can effectively be the change we want to see in the world. We’re on the cusp of a bottom-up revolution. No matter what happens tomorrow, government will be held to a higher standard of responsibility, and the American people are finally waking to the power the hold in their political hands.