The next few days are big ones here in the US. People everywhere are phone banking, door knocking, and early voting in anticipation of Election Day next Tuesday. When election time rolls around, I often settle into a two month mode of dreaming about the future. What would the ideal health care system look like? How will our relationships with countries abroad shift?

No matter what your political leanings, election time is a great time to dream of the future with your little citizens. It is also a time when you are likely wondering what their next decade will hold. This week we decided to feature our writers’ reflections on what this season has brought up for them and their little citizens. They come from all sides of the political debate. Our intention was not to endorse a candidate or party but instead to begin a dialogue about how election season shapes your discussion of the globe with your little ones. If you want to dive deeper with them in the last few days, this is a great site for talking with kids about the elections.

Enjoy and happy voting!

The Editor

As our nation gears up for an historic presidential election (or—depending on your perspective—winds down from two years of relentless campaigning), I find myself wondering what our children will learn and inherit from this next administration?

Our three-and-a-half year old knows the names of both candidates. This is sort of surprising, since my husband and I are not political junkies, but we all know how much campaign trail press coverage there has been. Recently one evening when our son was over-tired, we gave him two minutes before bed to “get the willies out.” He took the opportunity to race through the house, yelling “Barack Obama! Barack Obama!” When he finally calmed down and got into bed, we asked him whom he thought would win the election, to which he replied, “John McCain.”

Funny, yes, but it made me question: what can we hope our son learns from either of these men as the next occupant of the Oval Office? Is either fit to be a hero, an inspiration or a role model to our little citizen? From my perspective, that’s a fair requirement, because part of what I’m looking for in a leader is, well, leadership. It’s fine that we hold up football players as the example to encourage him to eat “all of his broccoli, so he can be big and strong like them” or point to the neighbor kid who “wears big boy underwear all the time” to cajole him out of diapers for good. But what about the more cerebral stuff like national values and what it means to be a leader in the global landscape? Beyond family and close friends, are we not within our rights to expect the highest standards for our president as an inspiration to ourselves and our children?

Like most parents, we have big dreams for our son and the world in which he’ll grow up and make a life for himself and his future family. We desire a cleaner environment, a better economic outlook and improved educational and healthcare systems. But frankly that’s not enough; I want more from this next president. I’m hopeful that, specifically with regard to our country’s foreign policies, our new leadership can undo much of the damage done by the old. I’m not unique in feeling that an opportunity was squandered in the wake of 9/11 and that we had a rare moment to strengthen existing relationships abroad and even build new ones.

Fortunately, the United States is home to where second chances breathe new life and opportunity, and I think the world will give us another bite at the apple to right what we’ve wronged. I hope that our next president will say—out loud—that we cannot lead the world without befriending it and healing it a little at the same time. Would we not give the same advice to our children?

Indeed, what kind of confident leader, regardless of his or her age, would go it alone? Whom can you lead if no one follows you? In my opinion, making yourself liked and trusted (and doing so with authenticity and consistency) is the first step to being a good leader and building a base of thoughtful, loyal and strong friends, allies, followers, team mates, etc. We tell our preschooler to cooperate, to take his turn, to speak kindly to others, and to clean up his own mess. That advice holds true for parents and elected representatives, though we don’t always follow it, do we? So maybe I have it backwards; maybe the next president should be looking at the littlest citizens for inspiration and behavioral guidelines as opposed to the other way around. If we ask Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain to “use their words,” will they lead the world by example? Let’s hope so.

This election has provided us with an opportunity to educate our children on the political process and to let them see how we as a family are involved in that process. Even more importantly, we have had the opportunity to teach our children about respecting the opinions of others.

Our children are only four and six years old so our discussion of politics is pretty high level. However, given the energy of this election year, it is virtually impossible to totally avoid political discussions in the house. Even leading children’s televisions stations such as Nick Jr. are talking about the campaign and urging kids to vote online. Our family has campaigned by organizing volunteers, knocking on doors, and making phone calls to support our candidate of choice.

So what have our children learned from this historic election year? First of all, they have learned that there are no limits to who can run for President of this country. Watching Senator Clinton and Governor Palin has shown them that women can play key roles in the political process. And seeing Senator Obama strive for a position in the Oval office gives them hope that minorities in this country do not have to be limited by stereotypes and misguided perceptions.

Secondly, our children have learned that not everyone will agree with them. Some of their friends “are voting for” a candidate that is different from the one our family is backing. However, we emphasize that everyone has a right to vote based upon issues that are important to him or her. We are all different and entitled to varying sets of beliefs and preferences.

Finally, our children have learned to always do their best and “take the high road” when talking to friends about differences of opinion. Our hope for our children is that they realize that they can be anything they seek to be in this country and to not be limited by other people’s ideas of who they should be.

There are some things a family can agree upon…where to get the best cheese steak, which way is the fastest to get to home, and what football team to root for. But it is apparent that this election season, there are many things a family cannot agree upon.

I’m not talking my immediate family…the four of us…we all agree. For starters my children will root for whomever you tell them to as long as you give them a piece of clothing and some pom-poms. As for my husband and I, well…let’s just say that I think that I have worn him down to the point of no return.

But when it comes to visiting and talking about this election with our respective families, it appears we are on polar opposites of the spectrum. My family is Democrats to the bone while my in-laws will be Republicans till the day they die.

You’d think that this would cause some huge family tension…fear of birthday parties where someone might say the wrong thing. Nightmares that someone might agree with McCain in the company of my family or drive a car with an Obama sticker to my in-laws…but that really isn’t what has happened at all.

There’s no changing my parents or my in-law’s minds, we all know that. But what we have tried to do this year is show all our children and grandchildren how a healthy and on-going dialogue can be held about important things without losing tempers, shouting, or even throwing objects. In our families, adults have behaved just like their name…adults. Imagine that.

When my 4 year old sees the campaign commercials on TV he always wants to know who we are rooting for. I tell him that Daddy and I are rooting for Obama, but Nana and Pop Pop are rooting for McCain. “But how can that be?” He asks, “You both root for the Eagles.”

If only it were that simple. But in life you don’t get to insulate yourself with only people who agree with you. And with that in mind, I can only hope that through our example, our children will learn to have an intelligent discussion with people of differing opinions and love them all the same even if they don’t agree with them. And I think that is a goal our whole family can agree upon.

Zoe loves cats. Her first word was “cat.” She loves to chase her cats and squeals with delight when she catches one (they don’t like this at all). She calls most animals “cat.” When my mom saw a “kittens for Obama” pin in a store she had to get it for us. We wear it proudly on our stroller. I love it for the Obama part. Zoe loves it for the picture of the kitten which she points to each time she gets into the stroller and says “Cat! Meow!”

Apparently my 13-month-old isn’t the only baby in lower Manhattan with a political view. Two blond boys have a sticker on their double stroller that reads “I’m an Obama kid.” A two-year-old whose mom runs a monogram business has “Go Obama” stitched in oversized letters onto the back of his Bugaboo. Other babies wear clothes that show their political preferences. My friend’s son is often seen wearing an Obama t-shirt. The other day I saw a little girl eating lunch at Whole Foods wearing a pink bib with a picture of Obama’s face. While I haven’t seen any babies for McCain around these parts there are a large selection of McCain baby shirts for sale online.

I liked these shirts and started to shop for one for Zoe. But then I stopped to think about how parents project political views onto their children. Is this appropriate? I asked some friends for their view on the subject. One friend told me that she doesn’t like when people project their political views on their baby because a) the baby didn’t choose this view, and b) it commercializes an innocent baby. I understand her opinion, but as another friend put it, as parents, we are constantly teaching our child about our family culture, which defines us as a family, and our political beliefs (along with religious beliefs, heritage, history, interests, sporting affiliations, etc.) are a part of what make up our culture. It is our job to teach all of this to our children. She also told me that she wanted her son to be a participant in this historic election which is also the first election of his lifetime, and to have something to prove that he was “there.”

I felt that both of my friends had very valid points. In the end I did buy Zoe a political shirt. It says “My Mama’s for Obama.” I hope it comes in time for Zoe to wear it on election day.