Did You and Your Family Watch the Presidential Debate?

Last Wednesday my family and I did.

Yes, the whole family. Although not all of them could stay awake to watch the entire thing (my eight and eleven year old fell asleep) I was okay with that; I know some adults who couldn't either.

It started at dinner when we got onto some random political topic my teenager brought up. Then, my eight year old son expressed who he might want to vote for, given the chance. I asked him some 'Why's' and 'Where does the candidate stand on that' type of questions, and he wasn't sure, except for 'I heard this' and 'I heard that'. I told him the best thing for him to do would be to watch a debate (and do some homework on the candidate he was rooting for). That way, he could make an educated decision.

The irony of the conversation was that we realized the debate was going to be coming on in the next hour. (Hey, we know we keep our kids up late for other 'special' events, so why not this one?)

During the debate it was interesting to see the different reactions in the room ( I had some of my own) The most interesting of them all had to have been my my son's apparent disbelief and (possible) disgust about a half an hour into the debate. He was ughing and sighing, slapping his forehead (sort of like he does when the Browns drop yet another pass).

As the night wore on, he turned to me and shook his head. I asked him what he thought now, and he said he wasn't too sure he would be sticking with his original choice.

Excited about the children having an interest in the debate, I posted these questions on our kitchen message board the next morning for my family to answer:

If you cannot read the answers, please scroll down

What did you think of the Presidential Debate?

1. I liked it.

2. Very interesting

3. It was too short

4. It was eye-opening, both to the two personalities and goals.

5. Informational

6. It cemented my position on the election.

What question would you ask Romney/Obama?

1. Are you scared that you might lose at being president?

2. Would you take a pay cut to help the middle class?

3. Could you give a straight answer next time?

4. Are you sure that Romney would make a 5 trillion $ tax cut?

5. Could you answer the questions?

These are just simple questions to get some feedback and to engage them (us grown up's did it too). Obviously for a 15, 11 and 8 year old, there is only so much that they understand or are concerned about, but the main point is that until my son watched the debate, his preference of which candidate should win had been gathered by hear-say, other people's opinions and political smear campaigns on the radio. None of his thoughts were based on his own ideas or experiences. I believe that children are smart. Sometimes smarter than adults. And they deserve to form their own feelings about something (or someone). During the debate, he was able to gain his own views... and my daughter's could too.

That's why I will let them watch the next one.

Will you be letting your children watch the rest of

the scheduled debates on:

October 11, 16, and 22nd?

Want a recap on the first presidential debate on October 3rd click here.

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