Kids and Politics

There has been a lot of buzz in our house these past few weeks and months about politics, and we have lots and lots of questions. The news is often sharing with us details of what this guy said to that guy, and what guy said to this one...it is all very confusing.

Last night we sat down to talk about the election that is coming next month, when our country will pick who will be the next "boss" of America.

We also looked at some learning games on-line, to learn more about our country and its history and government. We found a really fun place to play games that teach us about those things:

http://www.vote.wa.gov/outreach/Grow_Into_Voting/games.tpl

We took turns coloring the US flag (Cameron was very careful to get all of the colors exactly right!), and did a dot-to-dot of the Liberty Bell. Then we read the history of the Liberty Bell (and what happened to put that big crack in it!) together, and had a really good conversation about what it stood for.

Cameron also did some puzzles where he put all of the countries in the US and the counties in Washington in the right place. He is SO good at puzzles!

There are still lots of questions...

Ella is concerned that we pick the "nicest" guy to be "boss."

Cameron knows that the two people running are President Bush and John Kerry, and he thinks he likes John Kerry better, though he isn't sure why.

Maia likes to snuggle up and take in the commentary, it's not clear yet how much of it she is taking in. Not a lot, from what she'll say.

But we still have 31 days, so we still have lots of learning opportunities left.