Sneaking In An Education
An interesting thing just happened in my kitchen. Out of nowhere I got my kids to discuss something educational. Gone was the talk about video games and World of Warcraft patches and hanging out with friends over the weekend while they played computer games (are you sensing a theme here?). Instead we were debating the Civil War. I know. I’m just as shocked as you are.
It all started when I talked to my mom on the phone. She had called home earlier, but I wasn’t here. So instead she talked to my 14-year-old. My mom (just like myself) is a democrat and my 14-year-old is a republican. (Well as much of a republican as a 14-year-old who can’t vote can be.) I call him Alex P. Keaton. It’s a big funny joke because my son’s name is actually Keaton. And Alex P. Keaton was a huge young republican from Family Ties. Get it?
So anyway, my mom and my son had a big discussion about politics. I keep telling her he is just doing it to get her all ralled up. He tends to be kind of sarcastic (no clue where gets that from). When I got out of class and called her she was telling me about it. Then when I got home my son was telling me about it.
He and started to talk about why he was a republican and why I was a democrat. I was sort of testing him to see if he actually had any clue where McCain stood on any of the issues or if he was just getting sucked in to the republican propaganda. Somehow we got on to the discussion of Abraham Lincoln, how he was a republican and how he not only abolished slavery, but was the reason the Civil War started.
Since my 16-year-old is currently taking U.S. History in school, he joined in to the conversation. After a few minutes I stepped aside to help my 6-year-old write a letter to his sister (because they just learned about writing letters today in the 1st grade) and let my teens duke it out over the Civil War. They had a 30 minute conversation about the Civil War; talking about a few of the different battles and the key players. It was amazing.
So what’s the lesson here? Apparently I need to start sneaking in educational conversations so the kids don’t realize they are learning. Clearly I’m a genius.
Tags: Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, democrats, history, Politics, republicans, talking to teensRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Communication, Politics
5 opinions for Sneaking In An Education
bill
Oct 2, 2008 at 2:59 am
Yes. You are. My daughter’s 14, and I find that that kind of easing-into-it conversation is the best way to get her to think about things. Doesn’t always work, but it does, often enough.
Dawn
Oct 3, 2008 at 7:48 am
I’ve found my kids shut down if they think I’m trying to educate them. This type of casual conversation works much better for me as well. I’ve used this technique to get my kids thinking about the environment, finances, health, and a host of other issues. I think it helps your kids to become more well-rounded, informed people.
Christine's Mom
Oct 3, 2008 at 10:33 am
And, what you hadn’t heard about the politics discussion that Keaton and I had, was that he was telling me how the Republican party had been around from the beginning (George Washington days) and the Democratic party was the new party. And, how we were a “Republic” et al. So, he was accessing his social studies learnings even while trying to convert me to McCain’s causes :-)
I do have to admit, it is amazing that your older kids can now carry on a fairly complex, informed political discussion with historical references! They are such little adults now it is scary :-)
Mom
Christine
Oct 3, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Yeah, he was telling me that the republican party was around that long too, but the problem is he’s wrong. I told him the Democratic party has been around longer than the Republican party. He argued with me about it, but I’m right and he was wrong. Andrew Jackson was the first democratic president. The first republican president was Abraham Lincoln. George Washington was a Federalist (as was John Adams). Then Thomas Jefferson created the Democratic-Republican party as opposition to Federalist. After several years the Democratic-Republican party broke off to create the Democrats and the Whig party (of which Keaton tried to tell me Whig was not really a political party…and I had to correct him telling him several presidents were part of the Whig party.) And then when slavery became a big debate the Whig party disbanded and the Republican party was born.
Ginny
Oct 6, 2008 at 5:16 am
I had to laugh when I read what you call your son. I’m a Democrat, realized I was probably around High School. I thought I was a Republican when little though because I loved Michael J Fox on that show, lol.
Great way to get the kids talking. My oldest just turned 11, so she is still a blabber mouth. I sometimes tell her to quit talking & give me a few minutes of rest. In the back of mind, I think I need to quit doing that because any year now she will stop talking & I will wish she still was!
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: