A few weeks before my daughter started kindergarten we visited her school to let her get the lay of the land. She stepped out of the car and surveyed the building with a look of confusion.
“But mom. This is where we vote!”
The usual nagging voice in my head that tells me I’m fucking all this parenting shit up quieted down. Maybe I was doing something right after all? Maybe in between the tantrums and hellbeast moments, my little girl was listening.
Last night she cried that she doesn’t want a new president, she wants Obama. I gave myself a mental high five.
I’ve heard judgement about parents trying to “indoctrinate” their children with their political views. But yet, nobody cries foul when parents are raising their kids to be Baptistbyterianists. I’m raising my kids in an ancient and sacred religion known as Don’t Be A Douche.
There is too much at stake for me to sit back and leave my kids swaying in the political breeze. There are too many candidates fighting to see who can be the least tolerant, the least compassionate, the least presidential.
What scares me the most is that people are voting for these guys. All around this nation there are people who believe the hate-spewing monsters of our nightmares are totally legit options to run the country. That we should build more walls and kill more people to “make America great again.”
They scream that it is us vs them and then provide a million different ways that we could become part of them if we aren’t careful. Being too poor, looking too black, worshiping the wrong God or no god at all. Being born in the wrong place, knowing the wrong people.
They furiously deny that everyone deserves a chance. They fail to understand that #blacklivesmatter isn’t a threat, but a promise to our children. They pretend that their privilege makes them better, more important and the holders of all the keys.
Privilege is not a virtue.
Yeah, I indoctrinate. Young voters need to lose the complacency and get to the polls. They need confidence to know that their vote counts as part of a whole, even when the GOP is striving to disenfranchise them at every possible turn. They need to turn their anger at the bullies into a thirst for change.
They need to show up.
So that’s what we do, she and I. From the days when I carried her in my arms and she thought voting had something to do with going on a boat, we have shown up. I want her engaged now so she will feel empowered later. To show her that to be active participants in what goes on around us makes us more kind and compassionate people, more willing to walk mile after mile in the shoes of others in order to help better their lives as well as our own.
To hell with giving my kids a blank slate. To hell with letting them make up their own minds. I want my daughter to know what a rally is, to identify with words like “liberal” and “progressive,” and to generally not be a douche.
About the author: Rhiannon Giles is an overwhelmed mother who only occasionally considers giving her children to the circus. She has a sarcasm problem and writes regularly at rhiyaya.com. To keep up with new posts and see some of her favorites, join her on Facebook.
2 Comments
Hell yeah! Every word.
I have an 8 year old, and like most parents, I’ve taught her the basic tenets of being a decent human (share, mind your manners, be kind, etc.). So I read your article with interest because I’ve been surprised by her very negative reaction to Trump (she wrote Hillary a letter saying he was “a bad man who wants to put a fence around us and how can we be free with a fence so please be president ok?”).
Your article made me realize that the reason she loathes Trump is because she knows being an asshole is generally not okay in our home, at school, on the playground, and especially in the White House. We didn’t indoctrinate her to despise Trump. We indoctrinated her to be a good person. He violates that, and my daughter is calling bullshit.
Thank you for this realization!