What are your ABCs for Democracy? My children and I have spent a LOT of time considering the characteristics of good leaders over the last year. Our favorite characteristics are H for Helps, J for Just, K for Kind, and V is for Votes!

Getting Our Kids Civically Engaged

As part of my RISERS National Leadership Program, we convened a MomsRising voting-themed Kid Caucus. We reached out to local leaders and asked them to come celebrate the most pro-democracy action you can take—to vote!  It gave the children the opportunity to learn what voting is, ask leaders questions, create campaign posters,  and consider how they would convince others to vote for them. It also gave families the opportunity to check their voter registration, positively model civic engagement, and raise voters!

 

 

 

 

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Together, we read “President of the Jungle,” by André Rodrigues, Larissa Ribeiro, & Paula Desgualdo, to learn how democracy came to the jungle. We discussed that a vote is using your voice to make a choice! Our children asked leaders hard hitting, pressing questions like:

• Who can vote?
• What do you want to make better?
• Where do leaders work?
• Why do you want to be a leader?
• How do you get people to vote for you?
• When do people vote?

Local leader Omar Lazo LOVED our ABC Wall for characteristics of a good leader. His favorite? I for inclusive and Z for Zeal. Leader Matt Post liked K for Kind & Knocks the Doors. And Leader Bernice Mireku-North loved L for Listen and U for Understands because a good leader hears a problem and seeks solutions!

The ABCs of Democracy

What was our motivation to make our ABC wall of mini-posters for good leader characteristics? Quite honestly, it was born of my daughter being waitlisted for our public school system's pre-kindergarten classroom. We have to do something while we wait for the call to join high quality early education!  So we create art which expands vocabulary, emergent literacy skills, and pre-writing skills.  She may be the only pre-kindergartener who, when asked what word goes with G, responds "Govern!,” but she will say it with her whole chest! 

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Children were mindblown by how many different places leaders work.  As someone who works in schools, Mr. Omar Lazo got quite a few pointed questions about longer lunches, recess times, and interesting field trips!  Families had quite a number of questions themselves, ranging from pre-kindergarten programs, before and after care, and the current free and reduced lunch programming (namely, “When can we move towards universal free meals, please?”).  Ms. Bernice Mireku-North was peppered with questions concerning funding for child care and public schools, as well as community need for more child care workers, teachers, nurses, school psychologists, and school counselors. And families discussed rising utility costs and the increased expenses data centers impose on community energy grids with Matt Post. The sum of these concerns highlighted families' real need for care infrastructure over cruelty.  Families prioritized affordable access to health care, early childhood and child care programming, schooltime meals, increased public school investment, decreased utility costs, and an economy that meets community needs, as well as a nation which treats our immigrant neighbors (who often work in essential industries, such as agriculture, construction, health care, homecare, child care, and food service) with compassion and dignity.

After we read our story, we made campaign posters for ourselves. The most compelling? It was a tossup between a candidate championing schools and cookies and a candidate endorsement for a Dad whose platform was video games and piggyback rides!   

We took a vote to make a choice between tasty treats: cupcakes or cookies.  The cupcake candidate declared cupcakes are the best treat because they are tasty, have frosting, and have soft bread. The cookie candidate countered that cookies come in all shapes, sizes, and ingredients, but all are crumbly. Before our vote was taken, there were some unanticipated, unscripted real life voting scenarios that came up in our play! One little one spoiled their ballot by marking both choices; luckily, we had provisional ballots and flexible rules which encouraged voting! Another person came late, forgot to vote, and then ran it in. Our results?  There were five for cupcakes and four for cookies. Can you imagine if we had to have had a run-off election???  Good thing there was no Electoral College thrown into the mix! 

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Rising with Our RISERS Program

Watching children, families, and leaders connect was extremely rewarding.  Another aspect of planning and implementing my RISERS project that I found valuable was the way it encouraged me to consider connecting with my community and learning about the levers of power within it.  Through my RISERS program, I learned more about the structure of my state and local government, as well as the community organizations who are invested in issues and elevating causes.  I put the I in identifying and forming relationships with local and state leaders.  The League of Women Voters and Yellow Roses put the S in Suffrage for the event by providing pamphlets for us about positions on our ballots and checking family voter registration.  A local moms group, Sixx Cool Moms of Montgomery County,  put the F in Feeding by sponsoring patriotic cookies which were so filling and fantastic, it almost forced a run-off election!  And MomsRising (who put the M in Mentor!) encouraged us to D, defend democracy, R, vote for better Representation, and E, empower our next generation of leaders and innovators!

All in all, I learned so much from participating in the RISERS program and would encourage other Moms to supercharge their superpower–their voice!  Our experiences are powerful and using them helps to shape and change public policy.  

T for Take Action & Turn Out the Vote

Speaking of voices—what are you and your family doing to T, Take Action & Turn Out the Vote?

• Check your voting registration & make a voting plan.

• Crafts and ideas to celebrate voting.
• Fund, write, or host a mom to mom postcard writing party!

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• Share your story about you and your family’s experiences with cuts to health care and rising health care costs, vaccines, Head Start, and SNAP programming!
• Take the moms survey to spark change! 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Kids Caucus?

As part of the RISERS National Leadership Program project, Jean organized a MomsRising voting-themed event called the Kids Caucus to give children the opportunity to ask local leaders about voting and other civic engagement actions like having conversations about voting and checking their voter registration.

What are the ABCs of Democracy?

The ABCs of Democracy is an activity Jean implements while discussing what characteristics children think good leaders possess, such as H for Helps, J for Just, K for Kind, and V is for Votes.

How does MomsRising’s RISERS National Leadership Program help elevate Jean into civic engagement and voting-focused organizing?

The RISERS program allows Jean to learn more about the structure of her state and local government and the community organizations who are invested in issues and elevating causes, as well as identify and form relationships with local and state leaders.