Tuesday, April 22

Take Your Kids 2 Vote

I'll be taking my three kids with me when I vote later today because I want them to see democracy in action. That's why I was thrilled to learn about a new organization called Take Your Kids 2 Vote.

Take Your Kids 2 Vote is a non-partisan organization created to encourage parents to take their children to vote. To instill patriotism in our young Americans as well as an understanding of the voting process, parents are encouraged to take children the polls with them when they vote in primary, local and general elections.

By taking their kids 2 vote, parents will....

  • Help their children learn how our democracy works.

  • Help them understand why voting matters.

  • Make their children proud to be Americans.

  • Build lasting family memories.

  • Make America stronger.

Their site has great information for parents and teachers and gives a lot of great ideas for how kids can get involved in the election process, how you can make the debates a date with your child, and even some ideas for how dinner time discussions can help your family learn more about important election issues.

They even have a section for kids called Pollcat Corner that has puzzles, great kid-friendly voting resources and links, and even some interesting facts about voting that I bet you don't know. (Do you know why is always the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November?)

To celebrate the spirit of this site, all you Pennsylvanians who took your kids with you to vote today...sound off in the comments section. Did your kids ask any insightful questions? Did Junior crawl under the voting booth? Did Sally blurt out to everyone gathered who you voted for?

Take your kids 2 vote!

6 comments:

Livin' Life said...

I went out at 7am this morning with my two older sons (8 & 9 years old) Our polling place is right near the bus stop so we walked. I didn't take our youngest this year because with the new computerized polls it is really tight inside the building and all I could picture is my 5 year knocking over all the stations like dominoes. My husband will take his later when he votes.

Both boys were excited and asked lots of questions. They also felt special when they approached the polling building and all the candidate representatives began to clap and yell words of encouragement about how it was great to see such young voters. It was a great experience for my boys and for me as a mom raising children to really understand their freedoms.

Kelli said...

We'll be taking two around lunch time. One will understand, the other will probably try to eat the ballot. Does that count as a hanging chad??:)

Anonymous said...

I took 2 of my kids AND a neighbor's child. The poll workers were all over them with the stickers, instructions, a "guided tour". The best was the gasp the kids made when I choose my candidate (I hadn't decided until the very last minute)..

They liked the website too -- and especially Peabody Pollcat --

Promises said...

I went for a walk with my two boys to the polling place - maybe a mile away(?). It was great exercise for me and Brady enjoyed it - the baby slept. Brady was a good boy...did not really understand why we were there, but eventually he will!

Hands-Free Heart said...

I took my 2 yr old around 9:30 this morning. We literally walk out the front door, cross the street, and we are there.

He had no clue why we were going to "bote". He mostly ran around the big open room. We have a big room and a very small town, so there's never too much of a crowd... he had the run of the place and entertained everyone else while I voted.

I think my husband will take our 5 yr old with him. He's trying hard to understand voting, taxes and other such stuff, but I don't think he really gets it yet.

Say Anything said...

Took our kids as well. They enjoyed it - and I was also surprised to see many twenty somethings working the polls. When Stretch got home from work and I mentioned that he was going over to vote, Huckleberry was shocked, "You mean you both get to have your OWN vote". Yes Huckleberry, that's right - our own vote. God Bless America.

 

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