Katie has been interested in presidents for as long as I can remember. From the time she was 3, she could name every president we had ever had. She always looked forward to February because she could celebrate President's Day. It was a lot more important to her than Valentine's Day. She has a collection of books about presidents, she has visited every presidential library and historical place related to presidents that she could. She has met President Carter in person, she was in the room next to President Clinton, and she has received letters from the presidents. Party affiliation didn't matter to her.
When she was in kindergarten, we had the first presidential election that she could remember. She was excited about every candidate that came onto the screen - Democrat or Republican. I remember having my own thoughts about the candidates, but I tried to let her form her own opinions.
It didn't take long before Katie lost admiration for one candidate. No matter what your political beliefs are, character matters - especially to a child. She didn't understand why someone who was supposed to be a leader could make fun of others, call people names, and act in a way that she would never be allowed to act. Needless to say, the 2016 election was disappointing for her. (Here was her reaction in 2016.)
In the last four years, Katie has still enjoyed learning about the presidents, but a lot of the magic had disappeared. As this election neared and as she got older, she listened more to policies and formed opinions around those, but character was still the most important piece for her. She so badly wanted a leader who could be kind to others, even if he disagreed with them.
The wait for a President Elect to be announced was long. Katie checked in on the political news each night. Finally she heard the announcement yesterday morning. Of course, our cable box went out right then, but we watched streaming news on the computer to witness the moment. The joy on her face when she heard we had a new president was so fun to witness. Some of that "magic" in the presidential office returned. She was equally excited to know that a woman would be the Vice President.
It's important though to look at this through her perspective. When she saw me take the picture of her hearing the results, we had this conversation:
Katie: You're not going to put that on the blog, are you?
Me: I was going to. Why?
Katie: What if our relatives who voted for Trump see it? I don't want to 'offense' them.
Me: It's okay to have an opinion. I won't write it in an offensive way.
To the end, Katie is about character and thinks of the opinions and feelings of others. There's a lot we can learn from kids.
No comments:
Post a Comment