How Do You Explain the President?

No, not W., although I do think we need an explanation of how someone who can’t say “nuclear” correctly made it to the Oval Office. How do you explain the president to young children? We’ve been telling our preschooler “The president is the person the people in our country choose to help lead the country.” If we’re feeling expansive, we’ll add “He or she helps make sure everyone in the country is safe and has the things they need, like food, and roads, and good schools.” We say pretty much the same when we explain our town or state—it’s not like we’re trying to do a crash course in Civics 101 at this age. Between Helen and I discussing the campaign this year, however, and our son hearing about Washington and Lincoln in school, we do feel a bit of explanation is in order.

How do you explain the presidency (or any elected offices) to your children? Do books like Duck for President or Caldecott-winner So You Want to be President? help? How have your explanations changed as your kids have gotten older? When do you start introducing your own political viewpoints and the idea that a person can be both a legitimate official and yet someone you think is immoral (or just incompetent)?

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3 Responses to “How Do You Explain the President?”

1. 
   Lisa
   on Feb 18th, 2008
   @ 1:25 pm: 

   Not that I’m any fan of George W. Bush, but it’s a little tiring to hear people making fun of his “nukyuler” while giving Jimmy Carter a pass for the same exact thing. At least Bush doesn’t claim to be a “nukyuler engineer”.

   This is really a bash against people with regional accents, and this blog is the last place I’d expect to see it. Do you make fun of people who pronounce “jewelry” as “jewlery” or “February” as “Febyuary”? Because that’s the majority of the population.

2. 
   Dana
   on Feb 18th, 2008
   @ 8:02 pm: 

   Well, I know several Texans who pronounce “nuclear” as “new-klee-er”, so I didn’t see this as a bash at the region, but at the person. I didn’t realize “nu-kee-ler” was a widespread pronunciation in the region. If so, then I apologize for any unintended insult to the population.

3. 
   DivaJean
   on Feb 19th, 2008
   @ 3:12 pm: 

   True story- when we went to primary elections in NY, my eldest (8 years old)wondered why we couldn’t just go to the other voting booth (R) because the line for (D) voting booth was so long. I explained that the other booth was for Republicans. She of course wondered what Republicans were- and I told her they were people who believed George Bush and people like him would be good as president. She shuddered and made a yuck face- wondering how anyone could be like that. The very Democratic line laughed out loud and applauded her political insight.