Election Lessons

“I’m a Democrat,” my seven-year-old announced as he climbed in the car after school one day.

“Oh, yeah?” I asked, wondering if anyone had overheard him. We live in the Texas panhandle, after all—land of Bush and Perry, the cattle ranchers who prevailed over Oprah, and bumper stickers that announced NObama.

“We’re learning about elections,” Jackson told me. “We picked our parties out of a bowl.”

I refrained from making a smart-aleck comment about our country’s current political division. (That showed remarkable parental restraint, if I do say so myself.)

Turns out, the second graders at Jackson’s school participated in a week-long election unit in which “Democrats” decided between Cat in the Hat and Arthur the Aardvark as their candidate, and “Republicans” debated the virtues of Franklin the Turtle and Curious George.

Every day after school, Jackson gave me a play-by-play as he learned about political parties, debates, and the characteristics that make up a good leader—all through interacting with storybook characters he was familiar with.

Did I mention I love his teacher? This is the same woman who made Jackson stand on his desk and apologize to the girls in the class after he burped out loud. I wonder what she’s doing next year, and the year after that?

“We chose Arthur,” he said on day two. “He’s smart, and the Cat in the Hat is too silly.”

I gave him a thumbs up. “Sounds like a good decision.”

When he told me that the other party had nominated Franklin the Turtle, I asked him why. “Because Curious George gets in trouble all the time.”

Maybe kids should choose the real Presidential candidates, I thought. Their common sense was encouraging and sobering.

On Friday of that same week, my son and his classmates gave speeches about their nominees in front of the fifth grade. The older kids would decide the winner.

I waited impatiently all day, eager to find out who would prevail: Franklin or Arthur. In the end, it was a tough choice. The Republicans had put forth an honest, gentle turtle with patience and fortitude. The Democrats had nominated a smart, witty aardvark who kept a cool head in times of crisis.

“So?” I asked at the end of the week. “Who won the election?”

“Franklin won,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “Can we go get ice cream?”

So slow and steady wins the race, after all, I thought, and we headed off to the nearest Sonic for a consolation prize for my boy.