Patriotism

Whether you are against or for Presidential Elect Barack Obama, he is our next president. If you know me, you know which way I go on this issue. If not, don't worry about it. All that is important is that I love my country, I always stand with my hand on my heart for the Pledge of Allegiance and our National Anthem. I support our troops. I support President Bush and the war. I not only understand and comprehend politics and I am very knowledgeable about it first hand. My husband was an officer of the United States Army and he fought along side our, close to a million soldiers, in all branches of the Military, to keep our liberties, they fight to keep our freedoms and they fight to keep us alive. They fight to keep our rights. Such as the right to not only choose and elect our next president, we can actually decide and vocalize our opinion of him.

Wow. That's pretty amazing when you think about it. As long as you do it with a bit of refinement, tact and decorum most people don't even care. As long as your opinions are thoroughly researched and your conclusions are based on facts, we pride ourselves on having the right to debate. It's when we don't care enough about the subject to fact find and make ignorant comments and assumptions on issues that we fall apart as a country.

Do you know the number of people who voted in this election? Do you know the number of people who voted for each candidate in this election? Did you vote? Did you vote because you strongly support your candidate and understood their Presidential platform and strategies? What was that person's economic plan, their plan for the war, their background? What did you really know about that person? Did you understand ONE political commercial you saw on television? Do you understand what the super delegates are? How the election process works? I could go on and on, but if you did not understand ONE THING about the election, don't you think you owe it to yourself, your country, and your children to find out?

My point to this post is that no matter where you stand in politics right this second, put it aside. No matter who you support, what side you are on, and any political opinion you may have, forget it. We have children that are growing up in our great country, The United States of America. Our children are FREE! Free to form their OWN opinions. Their own opinions based on the facts that WE teach them. So don't you think they deserve to know the FACTS, to form their own opinion? Teach them to love their country. Teach them their rights! And then whether you agree with them or not, support their opinions. Let them know, your views may be different from theirs, but that's okay. That is part of being an American. Teach them to find the facts so they can make educated decisions and not to listen to only the media to reach their conclusions.

Start here with this election. This is a monumental event already in our childrens lives. The first black president. To help educate your children about this event put together a small collection of memorabilia that you can share with them now and then hold on to for when they are older.

Ideas that are free or relatively cheap:

• Collect news articles from around the web. Print them out and make a book or folder.
  
• Buy newspapers the next week, especially the inauguration issue and through his presidency whenever a big even occurs.
• The New Yorker is offering a reprint of their inauguration cover for FREE! Just fill out this form.
• FreeObamaCards.com is offering Free trading cards, just pay shipping and handling.
  
• Video Tape or Burn a DVD of the inauguration on television.
• Go to the library and get out books about presidents, elections, and the government. Then ask your child to write a short letter to his older self about how he feels about this president and politics and then have him write another one (without showing him the old one) after a year or after Obama's Presidency is over, or any intervals you choose really. Compare the letters and see how they differ and discuss why. Did his opinion change? Is he more politically educated now? Did his expectations change?

Politically Educating Our Children is The First Step To Teaching Them About Patriotism.
Our children are the hope for the future and our country.
We're teaching our son, are you?

Here's a fact to start you off: Did you know that this is the most expensive inauguration, with the biggest security detail, ever in history? Research the numbers, research the reasons, research the details and share them with your children!



Update:Thank you for your feedback! Please continue to leave me your thoughts and pass this post on to other people! Here are a few comments I received so far on twitter.

Read other posts about the inauguration at 5 Minutes for Mom!