“Indifference and neglect often do more damage than outright dislike,”
J.K. Rowling once said.
While we often think of hate being a horrific cycle that is passed down generation to generation, so is indifference. Turning your face and chuckling to yourself while crazy Uncle Bill utters a form of bigotry at the Thanksgiving dinner table when your heart is crying at the same time—that is indifference. And our children are watching that. While this may be an obvious form of indifference, staying home while you should be voting is an active form of indifference, too.
If you continue to say nothing and to do nothing, you are fueling the problems within our world—our children’s world. While there are many ways to stop indifference within your own family, voting is at the top. Sounds easy enough, right? While it should, people are often riddled with excuses. Many of us are registered voters but still sit idly by as the election day passes. We see the signs in our neighbor’s yards and watch the political ads on the television, yet we don’t know who’s running, what way to vote on millage, or what’s truly at stake. So, we come straight home from work instead of standing in line at our neighborhood poll.
Sure, we come out and vote the big Presidential Elections, but that’s often all we make the time for. We don’t take the extra few minutes to head to Google during the midterm elections to get informed about politicians and issues at the local, state, or national levels. And for many of us, our children are getting to the age where they can become educated, too.
Aside from taking your children with you to vote {which is pretty crucial}, it is time you made them learn that indifference will solve nothing. While yes, much of the news is not okay for your children’s eyes and ears, we can try to simplify the coverage for them a little. If we want our children to grow up to be active citizens in our communities, in our world, then we must act the same way. The simplest way to do this is by exercising your right to vote.
Explain to your kids how the process works and why we vote—because we are an integral part of a democracy. Teach them, that yes, they have a say in our government, but only if they use our voice and our right. Further the conversation by explaining how women and people of color have fought for our right to vote—it wasn’t always granted. So, to leave our right at home and not bring it with us to the polls, well, it’s a disgrace and nothing more.
Moms, I know we’re tired. We carry most of the mental load and our plates are heaping over with things that must remember and get accomplished. But if we want our tiny humans to grow into active participants in our world and to be a part of a positive change, then vote.
If you want them to stop indifference, then vote. Tell your children about the voting process or bring them along with you. Make voting a part of your conversation at the dinner table or tuck-in. It’s more than our right, it’s our obligation.
