Election Lessons: What Our Kids Can Learn From This Election

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Presidential elections can show us just how divided our country can be, and vitriol from all camps has been served to us through the airways, on social media, and in conversation for months. As an adult, I have found this seasamerican-flag-802087_1920on to be difficult to tread through. I can only imagine what it must be like to be a child watching adults verbally bash the candidate they like the least, and the people who follow that candidate. My husband and I have chosen to have honest discussions with our children about the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate, and about why they likely hold certain political stances, and what their personal histories tell us about their moral and political character. We teach them about the constitution, the makeup of political parties, and the functions of American government. But, what I would really like my children to learn, in light of this particular election, is what I believe all parents can teach their children:

  1. Praying for the winners AND the losers in the election is important. Why? Because they are people, made in God’s image, made for a purpose, and are valuable to Him, whether or not they believe what I believe, or speak how I speak. Pray with your children, for the country, for the new president-elect, the current president, for members of congress, and for the Supreme Court. Especially, pray for the collective attitude of the nation to be one of growth and positive change. Prayer changes things, even if the only change you personally experience  is change in the heart of your child.
  2. Values are vital to character, whether you become the President or a Pre-school teacher. Knowing our own values, and being able to talk openly about them, especially within our family, and especially with our children, teaches children to be intentional about their own values. In this election, and in the aftermath, many in our nation have forgotten that they value kindness, humility, grace, and mercy. Let’s get back to treasuring our values, and teaching them to our children by our own words and actions.
  3. Checks and balances rule. Be knowledgeable, and teach our kids about checks and balances. First, be sure to know how, in the U.S., we have a system of checks and balances to ensure that one party or branch of government does not become too powerful. Each branch of government, in some way, restrains the others, not to hold back progress, but to ensure stability. Relate this to your child’s personal life by talking about ways, in your family, or in the children’s lives, that they have “checks and balances.”
  4. It is NOT okay to publicly devalue another human being. Even if you have found yourself to be at fault for doing so during this election, be humble about this, and talk this out with your kids (and, of course, with God!). Stop and think about if there was a time in the past few months that you have name-called or labeled the candidate you did not vote for, or the people that follow them. Children learn to hate by observing and experiencing hate from adults. Children learn to love, and to show God’s love, by observing and experiencing the way adults show love. Children learn humility by watching us be humble about our own wrongs.
  5. Respecting is more important than being right. The old adage “you catch more flies with honey” applies well here. Arguing with others, and making them feel like you think they are lower than you when you argue, will almost never win them over to your point of view. We can teach our children that it is OK have a different opinion than another person, while at the same time showing respect. This is not only important in winning over people politically, but spiritually as well. A person who can see you respect them will be far more likely to respect what you have to say.

We have the opportunity to use this election season to teach our children so much. It important to teach how government works and how freedom is not free, but is a valuable gift. It is our responsibility to teach them that all of us should grow and change by this experience. But it is vital to teach them that God is still God, and He longs for us to love one another, no matter whom we voted for.

How will you explain this difficult time to your children?

Stephanie Shott
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