Miss J: See mommie, that's Barack Obama.

Ms. Bar B: Yeah, I see.

Miss J: You know, a lot of people are voting for him.

Ms. Bar B: They are?

Miss J: Yeah. I love Barack Obama.


This was the conversation between Miss J. and I as she sat on my bed with her back turned to me as I added the last rubber band to her ponytail of two twists yesterday. Who knew that such a conversation could be shared with a 5 year old? I didn't think that politics were amongst the sandbox chatter these days, but I have been proven wrong. I discovered that she has been doing much more than just playing at her new before/afterschool program. She has been learning about things that are very important for her future, such as voting. I think the word "vote" shocked me more than the words "Barack Obama" coming from her lips. Vote? How does she know anything about voting? I wonder if she knows what voting means? I think we underestimate our children's potential very often. Now, we don't do this on purpose, we do it because we feel that some things are just too difficult for children "their age" to comprehend. We are afraid that by sharing certain things with them that we may be exposing them to areas of life that they are not ready for... that they just wont understand. I think that if we can get over these fears there is the possibility of raising much more well rounded individuals. As long as there is interest, I say go ahead and teach. Even The Children's Place thinks that grade school children should get a head start on learning about politics.