With the debacle that was 2020 & our impending elections in the next few days. I wanted to share some thoughts about teaching our kids about their responsibility to vote.

I’m not some political junkie who spends her days watching poll predictions & political commentators arguing their points.  I am however one person who still believes that every voice counts.

When I turned 18, I asked my mom where I needed to go to register to vote.  Not only did she not know where to register, but she said registering to vote was a waste of time.

I was flabbergasted when she said, “Your Vote Doesn’t Even Count!”

I gave her the analogy of a drop in a bucket, but she was still un-phased.  This saddened me on a level that 30 years later, I still can’t explain.  It’s not just my mom though.  I am always amazed by the people I talk to that love to gripe about politics & complain about the direction our country is headed in.  Yet, when asked if they vote, their answer is almost always, a resounding “No”.

As time would have it, I have learned that most people who don’t vote or even register to do so, don’t for 1 or all of 3 reasons.

1. They don’t know where to go to register to vote.

2. They simply don’t know how to vote

3. They don’t want to get called for jury duty

This frustrated me because…

Fast forward 10 years…Now I’m a mama.  I get my & the Hubby’s absentee ballots sent to our hotel, when our then 4 year old baby asks, “Mama what’s that for?”.  I see an opportunity (more like seize) to teach my very young daughter a lesson on how her world (should) works.

It was actually quite easy.  Here’s what we did as she grew to prepare her for her duty & responsibility.

That particular ballot was the “Chad” ballot.  We simply showed her which one to punch.  We made it enjoyable for her.  She loved the special envelopes, sticking on the extra postage, & “voting” at the post office.

As she got older, we moved, & we taught her to ask the people at the post office or drivers license branch, where to go to register?  Again, we made it easy & practical.

When she was in elementary school I learned that you can take your minor child into the actual voting “booth” with you.  Again, we seized the opportunity to teach our daughter how voting is done “for reals”.  She loved it….Well, at least the part at the end when she got my lovely “I’m a Georgia Voter” sticker.

During a brief stint in public school during another Presidential Election, her History teacher was so impressed that we were teaching her about our responsibility to vote, that when I picked her up early from school to take her to the polls, he didn’t count her tardy/absent from his class.

Once in college, our Girl made us proud once again…this time by stepping up to the plate & casting her own ballot.

My point is, as parents we get the unique opportunity to teach our children how their world was intended to work.  And like that one tiny drop in the bucket, so is each child, & if we teach them that their vote does count, soon we’ll have a bucket full of voting, spirit led, little drops of the Holy Spirit pouring out onto our country…The way God intended.