Mass Appeal TV show: Helping Our Kids Understand the Responsibilities of Citizenship

• With today being the day for primary elections in Mass and the 11/3 presidential election fast approaching, parents have a special opportunity to help our kids understand our system of government and voting as a key responsibility of citizenship.
• While our kids, hopefully, are learning about the rights and responsibilities of US citizenship in school, we can reinforce their learning through conversations about:
  • The three co-equal branches of our federal government: Legislative (Congress), Judicial (Supreme Court), and Executive (President).
  • The similarities and differences between the House of Reps and Senate.
  • The importance of our free press.
  • Freedom of speech (“Democracy is not a spectator sport.”)—the right to participate by sharing your thoughts with your elected officials, writing letters to local press outlets, protesting when you feel compelled to do so, and running for elected office.
  • Freedom of religion: the separation between church and state.
  • The ideal of equal protection for us all.
  • Some of the peculiarities of our system:
    • Electoral College
    • The overriding importance of two political parties
  • We may describe some of the ways that our governmental system differs from a parliamentary system, such as those found in Canada and many other nations.
  • We can emphasize voting as one of the most important responsibilities of citizenship—and how this responsibility calls us to:
    • Understand the issues of our time.
    • Know where our candidates stand on these issues.
    • Make informed decisions about who we’ll vote for and how we’ll vote on any ballot questions.
  • We can emphasize the importance of all levels of government and, therefore, all elections and not just presidential elections.
  • One of the most important things we can do for our kids is invite them to join us when we visit our polling station (or post office) to cast our vote. This close-to-first-hand experience can be a memorable one.
  • And, of course, it’s important to remember that we will always be among our child’s most important role models.
  • Seeing the importance that you give to the responsibilities of citizenship and voting in particular will increase the likelihood that your child will do the same.