Kids and Politics: Where to draw the line
OPINION: by Autumn Orton
Last fall I took my daughter to school one morning to find one of her 1st grade classmates wearing an Obama hat. For some reason I felt angry and annoyed that a parent sent his child to school advertising for a political candidate. What’s the big deal you ask? It took me a while to figure out why I responded to this child’s hat in this way.
In my family we have Republicans and Democrats a few Moderates and one or two Libertarians. We respect the opinions of those we disagree with and have come to a sort of “agree to disagree” stasis. Same goes for religion. These labels apply to the adults in our family, not to the children. Although parents certainly have a strong influence on the views of their children, we are not at liberty to define their values and beliefs for them. They must be allowed to choose for themselves or we rob them of one of the most important life skills – learning from experience.
This boy wearing the Obama hat was clearly too young to have any sense of self beyond his parents and therefore wore the hat because of what his parents believed, not what he believed. In my opinion, these adults were abusing their parental influence to forward their own support of a political candidate. Exploiting a child should evoke feelings of annoyance and anger in any parent which explains why I responded so strongly to this situation.
As we gear up for the 2010 election cycle I often bring this moment to mind to remind me how to talk to my daughter about politics. I explain to her why I believe the things I do and I answer her questions. But, I also encourage her to think for herself and make up her own mind. She is my daughter but she is also an individual worthy of her own beliefs. Kids have young impressionable minds that need to be treated with care and support not indoctrination.
