If you think the endless 2008 election has been confusing for you, imagine how challenging the ins and outs of policy and pundits are for children to grasp.  With the media offering so many mixed signals it is up to parents to make sure the youngest members of their families understand the responsibilities and rewards of voting. Workingmother.com blogger and Mom-in-Chief author Jamie Woolf has made a career out of teaching moms how to use workplace techniques to get the most of out their personal and family lives. Here she offers her strategies for raising politically aware kids.

Strategy 1: Research the competition and show why politics matters. In business, you can’t believe everything you hear. A leader may hear from someone in his department that an employee isn’t pulling his weight or that he’s causing disruptions. The best leaders never take these rumors at face value. They take the time to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each of their employees and then form their own opinions about their performance levels. The same skills that you use in your job to assess an employee or coworkers performance level can be used to assess a candidate, and they are skills that are easy for your kids to grasp. “I think the most difficult thing to convey to your children with regard to the election is that they can’t believe everything they hear on TV or everything they read online,” says Woolf. “With so many negative ads and false rumors floating around, you have to teach them to focus on the issues. Ask your kids which issues they think are the most important. Teach them how to effectively gather information about the candidates by reading newspaper articles together, watching debates as a family, talking about political issues around the dinner table, and visiting the candidates’ websites. My daughter recently told me that she tried to explain the differences between the candidates to a boy in her class who said there were none. It was a proud moment for me because I could see that our political discussions at home had paid off and that she now had an excellent grasp of how important the issues the candidates represent are to her and her classmates’ lives.”

Strategy 2: Guard against “momthink.” We’ve probably all worked with a boss at one point who tried his best to stifle any dissenting arguments against the way he or the company does things. He only wants to hear from “yes men” and as a result it is very difficult for his company or department to grow or change for the better. The best leaders encourage disagreement so that the full range of issues gets out on the table and so that solutions to problems can be approached in different ways. That said, being a good Mom-in-Chief means not programming your kids to think like you. “Politics can be tricky,” says Woolf. “You have to be careful that you aren’t forcing your political opinions on your children when you are engaging them in political conversations. Political discussion should be used to teach them how to be independent thinkers rather than simply plugging them into your ‘momthink.’ As a parent, it’s your responsibility to show your children how to respect dissenting points of view by listening, considering ideas different from their own, and deepening their understanding of their own opinions. So, if your kids decide they would also vote for your candidate of choice, ask them to assume the other point of view as a fun way to foster critical thinking and guard against ‘momthink.’”

Strategy 3: Take kids to the voting booth.  I have a frustrated client at an engineering and design firm who at one point believed many of his workers didn’t see how their work connected to the finished product. To remedy the problem, he decided to make a habit of getting his employees out of the office to tour the buildings they had helped to build. After his employees saw what resulted from their work, motivation and productivity in his firm soared. A great way to help your kids make the connection that we as individual citizens can have a huge impact on what happens in our country is to take them to the voting booth. “I think you’ll find that your kids really enjoy the process because it isn’t something they can experience everyday,” says Woolf. “My nine-year-old daughter loves to vote. She loves to fill in the arrows or touch the touch screens and proudly walks away with an ‘I Voted’ sticker. Visiting the polls provides you with a great opportunity to talk to your children about the privilege of voting and the important role we play in the democratic process of our country. By showing your enthusiasm about voting to your own kids you can help reduce the apathy and cynicism about the political process so widespread among youth in the U.S. today.” 

Strategy 4: Teach them how to respectfully debate. Too many adults enter the business world without properly knowing how to debate their side of an issue. Too often arguments that begin in a meeting or over a conference call end only with hurt feelings or two departments or employees that are suddenly unwilling to work together. That’s why it is key that you teach your children how to remain respectful when debating an issue. It’s a skill that will benefit them as they go through school and also when they reach the business world. A great way to teach your kids how to debate respectfully is by putting the candidates themselves aside and only looking at the issues. Have one child choose one side of an issue while their sibling or friend takes the opposing side. Give them a few minutes to prepare and then let them participate in a mock debate with you as the moderator. Play the devil’s advocate to each child by bringing up aspects of their position that they may not have considered and call them out if they ever stray from the issues and attack their opponent in any way. “A friend of mine, upon hearing her kids ‘Boo’ a lawn sign with the candidate they (their parents) weren’t voting for, asked them what they didn’t like about this candidate,” says Woolf.  “Their response was silence. She took the opportunity to talk with them about the importance of understanding the views of each candidate and that booing the other candidate wasn’t a sufficient or responsible response to an opposing view. She taught them a lesson that every parent should teach, that you haven’t earned the right to respectfully disagree or debate an issue until you’ve considered both sides.”

Strategy 5: Talk, yes, but take action too. If you’re leading a company or department and there is a crisis brewing, do you sit in your office hoping that it will blow over? No! You get to work on developing and enacting a plan to prevent the crisis or make its impact as little as possible. In the same way, if you believe strongly in a candidate or the political process in general, it’s important that you show your children that they can do more than simply voting to get involved.  “I can remember stuffing envelopes with my mom from the time I was very young,” says Woolf. “Four years ago, we had a party at our house filled with people calling registered voters, reminding them to vote. My oldest was able to make calls then and asked if we could make calls again this year. Because presidential elections only happen every four years you can really create a lot of excitement around them that your kids will be receptive to. A great way to do that is by throwing an election night party and watching the election returns together. Doing this is a great way to not only make them politically engaged but also politically active.”  

About the Author: Jamie Woolf has over twenty years of experience consulting to business leaders. Based on her work inside dozens of organizations, Jamie lays out her “best practices” to enjoy more success at home and at work. She founded The Parent Leader to help mothers and fathers gain the self-awareness and leadership skills to transform their daily parenting challenges into desired results and co-founded Pinehurst Consulting, an organization development and training consulting firm. She blogs on www.mominchief.com.