The other day Big Sister told me that she heard there's a guy named Dino Rossi running for governor, but she saw a commercial that said there are a lot of people that don't like him. She also saw a commercial that showed Christine Gregoire, and it said that a lot of people don't like her, either.
"Mom? If you don't like any of the candidates that are running, do you have to vote for one?"
A good question, my dear, a very good question....
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
How do you talk to your kids about 9/11?
My oldest had just turned 2 years old, and we were in Seattle visiting my dad. Hubby was down in CA, and would be flying up to join us in a few days. Words to describe the helplessness and despair I felt that day, both as a parent, and as a citizen of the world, are still hard to come by. If anything good can come from the events that took place on September 11, 2001, I want to share with my children so that they can understand a little better the world in which they live. How to do that without putting fear or hatred in their hearts?
My little girl is now 9 years old. She is caring, compassionate, and like many kids her age, has a strong sense of what is right, or just. I've been searching the internet for ways to honor this day, in hopes of getting a discussion going with her, but resources are hard to come by. Seems like there was a lot more out there on the web a few years ago. Are we forgetting already?
I'm not a real "rah, rah" American, but 9/11 made me realize like nothing else ever had, that to the rest of the world, we are all Americans over here. I think it's a good idea to figure out just what that means. Many of the lesson plans online have children creating patriotic crafts to help build that national identity.
Many everyday people became heroes that day. Ordinary people did extraordinary things, and risked their lives for strangers. Others did what they could by raising money or donating to help out the victims and their families. Firefighters became a shining symbol of the great things we are capable of doing for one another in our everyday lives. Some lesson plans suggest writing thank yous to your local fire department, or baking cookies for them.
9/11 got many people in touch with Faith. Even I, the devout Floundering Whatever that I've been for nearly two decades now, felt the need to be in community with others seeking understanding of what had taken place. Specifically, I needed something bigger than myself to help ease my shattered peace and innocence, and I felt the need to experience that with other people around me. I went to a service with my grandmother at her Catholic church. For one afternoon during that disjointed week, I felt tethered to the world, and it gave me hope and compassion. It also gave me an adult memory of time spent with my grandma - a memory that wouldn't have been created without the events of that week. I want my kids to feel that connectedness - that they are part of something bigger than themselves, and that even the most tragic events in our lifetime cannot sever that thread.
How will you remember 9/11, and how will you help your kids to understand?
Education World Lesson Plans - Remembering 9/11
PBS, Newshour lesson plan (for older kids)
Teacher Vision lesson plan
A to Z Teacherstuff - lesson plans, especially for elementary age kids
Here's what we did...
First I asked if she had ever heard of 9/11. She thought it was some show on television, but she wasn't really sure.
I gave her background on where we were that day; what we saw on television; the emotions I was feeling, and about how parents want only to be able to keep their children safe... and on that day, and in the days that followed, I suddenly felt myself woefully ill-equipped for that task.
We took a look at pictures of the WTC from 9/11, taken while the towers were still standing (** highly recommend parents choose carefully the pictures they want to show their children BEFORE sitting down with them - there are a lot of deeply disturbing images that you don't want to stumble upon with them sitting right there). We made a list of national symbols (flag, White House, Statue of Liberty, the President), and I explained that the WTC was also a symbol that would stand out (due to its location, and size). How would you feel if someone intentionally destroyed something that was special to you?
We talked about how many people were suddenly feeling a deep sense of patriotism. We watched a video for the song God Bless the USA, which included some of the national symbols we had already discussed. Displaying US flags on your car became popular, and was a way that Americans could feel united at a time when we were all feeling very vulnerable.
We focused on ways that people overcome their feelings of fear and helplessness. Some did it by taking action (like making donations to help out victims of disaster, or joining the military). The government responded by trying to make travel more safe. Many people sought out places of worship, and joined in fellowship with those around them. And mostly we talked to one another, because talking about what scares you can sometimes make you feel a little better.
Lastly, I wanted to convey to her that fear can sometimes cause you to jump to the wrong conclusions and have poor judgment. A 9/11 lesson plan I found online talked about the movie Monsters, Inc. In the movie, the monsters are all scared to death of children, but two monsters come to learn than children are nothing to fear. We must be careful not to make decisions from a position of fear, or act on the basis of stereotypes.
I tried not to get too much into the huge loss of human life that took place on 9/11, and with the war that followed. Even without going into those details, she still had a lot to process. She understands that the WTC towers housed offices, and that there were people in the buildings, and that the towers eventually crumbled to the ground. We also talked about the heroes onboard flight 93, that ultimately went down over Pennsylvania in an attempt to avoid more loss of life. In the years ahead, I'm sure she'll eventually grasp the magnitude of what happened, and how the world forever changed that day, but for today I was happy with what we were able to discuss.
My little girl is now 9 years old. She is caring, compassionate, and like many kids her age, has a strong sense of what is right, or just. I've been searching the internet for ways to honor this day, in hopes of getting a discussion going with her, but resources are hard to come by. Seems like there was a lot more out there on the web a few years ago. Are we forgetting already?
I'm not a real "rah, rah" American, but 9/11 made me realize like nothing else ever had, that to the rest of the world, we are all Americans over here. I think it's a good idea to figure out just what that means. Many of the lesson plans online have children creating patriotic crafts to help build that national identity.
Many everyday people became heroes that day. Ordinary people did extraordinary things, and risked their lives for strangers. Others did what they could by raising money or donating to help out the victims and their families. Firefighters became a shining symbol of the great things we are capable of doing for one another in our everyday lives. Some lesson plans suggest writing thank yous to your local fire department, or baking cookies for them.
9/11 got many people in touch with Faith. Even I, the devout Floundering Whatever that I've been for nearly two decades now, felt the need to be in community with others seeking understanding of what had taken place. Specifically, I needed something bigger than myself to help ease my shattered peace and innocence, and I felt the need to experience that with other people around me. I went to a service with my grandmother at her Catholic church. For one afternoon during that disjointed week, I felt tethered to the world, and it gave me hope and compassion. It also gave me an adult memory of time spent with my grandma - a memory that wouldn't have been created without the events of that week. I want my kids to feel that connectedness - that they are part of something bigger than themselves, and that even the most tragic events in our lifetime cannot sever that thread.
How will you remember 9/11, and how will you help your kids to understand?
Education World Lesson Plans - Remembering 9/11
PBS, Newshour lesson plan (for older kids)
Teacher Vision lesson plan
A to Z Teacherstuff - lesson plans, especially for elementary age kids
Here's what we did...
First I asked if she had ever heard of 9/11. She thought it was some show on television, but she wasn't really sure.
I gave her background on where we were that day; what we saw on television; the emotions I was feeling, and about how parents want only to be able to keep their children safe... and on that day, and in the days that followed, I suddenly felt myself woefully ill-equipped for that task.
We took a look at pictures of the WTC from 9/11, taken while the towers were still standing (** highly recommend parents choose carefully the pictures they want to show their children BEFORE sitting down with them - there are a lot of deeply disturbing images that you don't want to stumble upon with them sitting right there). We made a list of national symbols (flag, White House, Statue of Liberty, the President), and I explained that the WTC was also a symbol that would stand out (due to its location, and size). How would you feel if someone intentionally destroyed something that was special to you?
We talked about how many people were suddenly feeling a deep sense of patriotism. We watched a video for the song God Bless the USA, which included some of the national symbols we had already discussed. Displaying US flags on your car became popular, and was a way that Americans could feel united at a time when we were all feeling very vulnerable.
We focused on ways that people overcome their feelings of fear and helplessness. Some did it by taking action (like making donations to help out victims of disaster, or joining the military). The government responded by trying to make travel more safe. Many people sought out places of worship, and joined in fellowship with those around them. And mostly we talked to one another, because talking about what scares you can sometimes make you feel a little better.
Lastly, I wanted to convey to her that fear can sometimes cause you to jump to the wrong conclusions and have poor judgment. A 9/11 lesson plan I found online talked about the movie Monsters, Inc. In the movie, the monsters are all scared to death of children, but two monsters come to learn than children are nothing to fear. We must be careful not to make decisions from a position of fear, or act on the basis of stereotypes.
I tried not to get too much into the huge loss of human life that took place on 9/11, and with the war that followed. Even without going into those details, she still had a lot to process. She understands that the WTC towers housed offices, and that there were people in the buildings, and that the towers eventually crumbled to the ground. We also talked about the heroes onboard flight 93, that ultimately went down over Pennsylvania in an attempt to avoid more loss of life. In the years ahead, I'm sure she'll eventually grasp the magnitude of what happened, and how the world forever changed that day, but for today I was happy with what we were able to discuss.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Caucus Day! (updated: Obama takes it!)
From the Seattle PI: The breadth of Obama's victory in Washington matched its depth: with 94 percent of caucus results posted, Obama beat Clinton in every county that had reported as well as in every one of the 16 legislative districts entirely or partly within King County.
My blog entry from earlier in the day...
Taken from the Washington State Democrats website.Still undecided? Go to the Electoral Compass to see how your views on the issues line up with the candidates. (Thanks J, for sending this website my way!)
It's Caucus day here in Washington state, and there's been an excited buzz all week leading up to this. I personally know of at least ten people who are all going to be attending a caucus for the very first time today, and we're all a little nervous because no one really knows what happens once we're there. Yesterday I finally met a lady who knows someone who attended a caucus once - kind of like knowing a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend thing. Well after today there will be a whole lot less newbies to the process. Hmmm... I wonder if I can sell "I'm a Caucus Virgin" t-shirts outside the steel workers hall today (my caucus location)? Should have thought of that a week ago, darn it! ;P
In preparing for today, I found a couple of fun resources to get myself ready and answer all my questions. One was sent in an email by MoveOn.org: Fuse's Presidential Caucus Guide (In which we address all your excuses for not going). I hope they are right because I plan to challenge two of those issues - my 8 year old has a bday party to attend immediately following the caucus, so I'm bringing her along. I've also heard that while these are only supposed to take 90 minutes or so, they can go longer and get fairly heated, so while I don't want to disappoint my daughter, or the bday boy who the party is for, I may see if I really can sign in and leave. Granted, my recap of the caucus experience would not be nearly as interesting, but I'd get to have my say in the process, and I'd make a couple of kids all the more happy.
For a fun, sort of "caucus 101" walk through the caucus process (and to gain an understanding of sub-caucuses), this YouTube video from Franken for Senate titled How to Caucus was really helpful. For another informational video put out by the Washington state Democrats go here.
To continue your education on the nomination process for presidential candidates in the democratic party, you need to gain an understanding of the role of the Super Delegates. These are mostly elected officials, or other party leaders from the democratic party (like ex-president Bill Clinton, Al Gore, the governor of Washington state, etc.)who are given their own vote at the national convention. Their voting power actually represents 40% of the total delegates available within the party! That's huge, especially with how close the numbers have been running up to this point for Hillary and Barack. There's a brief article here about who the super delegates are, why the democrats use them, and what role they've played in past elections.
With the clarification that we could not only take our kids to the caucus, but also sign-in with our vote and leave, both hubby and I were able to take part in the caucus. All the children are happy, birthday parties will be attended, and I feel like my opinion got to matter to some extent. Best of all I convinced hubby to participate in the process (and he even voted for the same candidate that I did!). I told him that at the next caucus I'm going to stick around, and I'm not making any other plans. I definitely missed out on some of the nitty gritty political discussion that was going to be taking place, and that would have been fun to be a part of.
I have no idea how this is going to turn out today. There were hundreds of people at our caucus location, and there were three precincts reporting there. We passed another caucus location (a middle school), and its parking lot was so full that they were parking cars on the lawn, and in a lot across the street. Still more people were making their way on foot. When we signed in, the sheets each contained space for five voters to sign and list the candidate they were supporting. There was a line below that if you chose to change your vote once the caucus is underway. My sheet had 2 for Obama, 1 for Clinton, hubby's sheet had one for each plus two undecideds, and he saw another sheet that was all Clinton. I think our particular area tends towards moderate dems, so I wouldn't be surprised if Clinton took away more delegates from our precinct, even with Obama's generally strong turn outs in caucus states. I guess we just have to wait and see!
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