My husband and I have taken our sons to vote every year since they were born. It's important to both of us that our boys know and understand that voting isn't just a privilege, but a responsibility of citizenship. We want them to pay attention to politics and what is happening in their country and seeing us vote was a good way to start out.
Of course, Hollis and Holden are incredibly lucky little boys. There have been no shortage of politicians in their short lives. Hollis still talks about seeing Barack Obama and the time he met Vice President Biden. With our close proximity to DC, they've visited the White House several times and love to visit the "Capitol City," singing "I'm Just a Bill" from School House Rock all the way. With the parents they have, it will also be difficult for them to miss the political screaming matches vigorous political disucssions that take place in our home.
But I think we took it to the next level today.
A good friend and I took our 6 year olds to a local watering hole for dinner with the intention of watching the election returns. They very nicely turned one of the 50 or so TV's to MSNBC for us and we settled in to watch. Unfortunately, we were getting frustrated with the lack of local coverage of Virginia's 2nd Congressional District race. We both campaigned for Congressman Glenn Nye and I even appeared in a commercial for him. We asked the eatery to change another tv to a local station and they said no. "No more politics." (Buffalo Wild Wings in Chesapeake, Virginia, I'm talking to you!)
