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Election day
 

Tuesday November 3 has so much weight in our world. It has the weight of democracy, change and the impact of a society that has experienced so much within the last year. But what comes after November 3? How do we talk to our kids about the election and the impact of this election?

Kids are perceptive. We must give them a bit more credit. Since we know that kids are perceptive, have conversations with them. Take your opinion out of the conversation and provide them facts. Let them know what each candidate stands for and the conversations that each candidate is having. Make sure the conversations are age appropriate and that you are well informed of the information. Beginning these conversations at an early age will inform your kids, it will foster independence and will allow them to create an informed opinion.

Allow your kids to ask questions. Give your child informed opinions but remember to check your emotions. This can be a tough time for parents and adults, and it can stir up many emotions. When discussing the election with your children (or any children), you must check your own feelings. If your feeling overly passionate about the topic, take a break, a deep breath and revisit the conversation when you have calmed down. Having conversations with such weight in an emotional state can create worry, emotional chaos, anger, and other tough emotions for kids to process.

Identify your family standards and expectations for behavior. Now is a time where there is a lot of mud slinging and behaviors that you may not want your children repeating or picking up. Identify what is appropriate and what is not appropriate. Let them know that certain behaviors and conversations are not appropriate in your home or at school.

Come November 4, no matter the outcome, it is a time to practice graciousness, compassion, acceptance, resilience and to model understanding. If you are upset about the outcome of the election, that is fine, but model resilience for your child. If your ecstatic about the outcome of the election, that’s fine as well, but model graciousness. Your behaviors impact your children’s behaviors. You are conditioning them on how to behave, how to communicate and how to accept victory or defeat.

At the end of the day, this is a time for you to talk with your kids about what matters most. Is it that your chosen candidate wins? Is it for unity within the community? Is it for kindness to spread? The biggest impact we can have as a community is to treat others the way we wish to be treated. We can have differing opinions and we can still make the choice to live together in kindness.  


be kind, good people

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