Issue Date: October 5, 2008
Get kids into the election
Young "voters" can be surprisingly savvy.
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Although candidates cater to voters 18 and older, kids can be surprisingly election savvy. In fact, children's publisher Scholastic hosts a mock presidential vote in which pint-size "voters" have only misjudged the winner twice since 1940. With the election a month away, it's the perfect time to engage your kids in the 2008 race. Some fun ideas:
In addition to its mock election, Scholastic has many interactive features on its website, like "You're the Candidate," which lets kids map out a campaign strategy and choose the issues that are most important to them. (Go to scholastic.com/election2008.)
Among the activities on "Time for Kids'" "Election Connection" site is an "Electoral College Craze" game, which asks questions about each state; kids "win" its electoral votes if they answer correctly (timeforkids.com/TFK/election08).
Nickelodeon's "Kids Pick the President" offers the six o'clock news for the school-age set. Immediately upon opening this site, visitors are greeted with a "Nick News" video outlining recent campaign developments (nick.com/kpp).
Let your tween or teen teach you. Ask him or her to show you Facebook's election groups and features as well as election-related YouTube videos.
More important, take them off-line and into the trenches. Contact area campaign offices to find out about volunteer work your child could do. Or, call election officials and ask how kids might be able to help out at the polls if your child's school is closed on Election Day. Although state laws differ, some allow high school students to volunteer.
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