I live in a county with exclusively mail-in voting procedures. As I prepare to cast my ballot for our next leader, I’m reminded how sad this makes me as a parent.

I remember election days when I was growing up. My parents would take me and my sister to our elementary school. There was always some sort of bake sale going on and we would run into all of our friends who were there with their parents. Adults would stop and chat while kids ate homemade cookies. Voting wasn’t just something that my parents did – it was something that EVERYONE did. I’ve long associated election night with my community.

Now, as I try to instill in my young children the necessity of participating in our democratic process, I’m at a loss of how to fully demonstrate it. If all of us mail our ballots, will our children grow up with the same positive emotions of voting that we did?

I understand the need and the benefit of remote service access, but sometimes I worry about the long-term consequences of parents doing things without their children watching.

You could put other things in that category – paying bills, discussing finances with your spouse, exercising, volunteer work.

These are all things we used to do with our mothers because they didn’t have daycare and lunch hours or computers. But now, we do them when our kids don’t see us.

I think mothers should make an effort to do certain at least within the proximity of their children, if not full out involving them. I know it takes more time and effort, but I think the benefits in the long run are worth it.