Driving to school the other day Brady asked me where I was going after preschool drop-off, and I told him I was headed to vote (early, that is.) As expected, he then asked me what “vote” meant. Hmmm…. How exactly do you explain government and voting to a preschooler?
Well, I thought, he’s captive in the car for a few minutes and he’s a pretty smart little kid, so I started with the basics. And it went something like this:
“Remember in your book about the Pilgrims, why did the Pilgrims leave their old country?”
“Dunno.” This might be harder than I expected.
“Because they wanted the freedom to practice their religion without anyone telling them they couldn’t. Our country was founded on one core principle –people should be free to do what they want, say what they want, eat what they want and pray like they want … as long as they are kind and don’t hurt anyone else.”
“Oh! Like in the movie Hercules where Hades offers Meg her freedom, but Hercules has to go into the pit instead?”
“Well, kinda. But while we want to be free to live as we choose, we need a group of people, the government, to help take care of things like building roads and schools and to make sure that we take care of the environment and each other and that we follow the laws. So, every few years grown-ups need to decide who they think will do the best job taking care of our country and running our government. We get to vote, or pick, who we think the best person is for the job.” Now I'm truly doubting my attempt at this lesson.
“Mommy, big sharks can eat anything!”
“Yes, they can.”
“But sharks don’t eat government and hammerheads don’t eat people.”
“No. Sharks don’t eat the government.” I’m feeling weary. Why am I doing this?
“Mommy, I get it! God made everything. But God didn’t make the government.”
Wow – there it was. A simple statement of truth.
“No, you’re right Brady, God didn’t make the government. People make the government.”
And someday Brady’s Uncle Michael can give him a complete civic tutorial all about the importance of remembering the founders' intent of separation between church and state.
In the meantime, Music Class CD anyone?
2 comments:
Amy: Uncle Michael here.
Brady is quite right that sharks are currently prohibited from eating government. However, he should be aware that the sharks and their powerful lobbyists are attempting to create an exception to that prohibition for "most marine predators*."
Vigilance is the Eternal Price of Liberty!
*Except for whale sharks. As Justice Diego rightly noted in Lucy vs. Fishing Net, (Episode 27, 2004) whale sharks are very gentle. Also they only like to eat plankton. And they have spots AND stripes, which is nice.
I can't get REM's "Pop Song 89" out of my head now ...
should we talk about the weather (hi, hi, hi)
sharks don't eeeat the government (hi, hi, hi, hi)
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