My Boys Dabble in Politics

Two weeks ago, both of the boys came home from school and announced that they were running for Student Council. Logan decided he was going to run for President and Kaiden was going to run for Historian. As a 4th grader, the only office Kaiden could run for was Historian and the students had to choose one male candidate and one female candidate for the position.

To be honest, both Eric and I were surprised the boys expressed interest in running, considering the fact that they would have to make posters, and write and give a speech in front of the 3-6 grades. I have to admit that I was less than thrilled with their interest in running for office. I ran for Student Council several times as a child. I won the election a time or two and I lost a time or two. The sad thing is, as an adult, I don't remember holding office as much as I remember how I felt when I lost. As a mom, I think it's natural to want to shelter your kids from that same feeling, but on the other hand, as a good mom, I think it was obligation to support them in their endeavor. I won't lie to you, I also thought it was my perogative to lay out the hard facts. I explained that they were basically signing up to run in a popularity contest and that they both needed to be prepared to lose. I explained that they had been at their school for less than a year and that there were a lot of kids running for each position, which would make it very difficult to win. They both still decided to make a go of it.

Despite our wild and crazy winds on Friday, the boys were beckoned to school to give their speeches. Only in Alaska does the school principal call you personally at 9:50 to let you know that (despite their earlier misgivings) school would in fact be in session and that the kids needed to be there to give their speeches by 10:30. I quickly had the boys get dressed and I ran the them up the hill to school. Since I was already there, I decided to sit through the 54 1-minute speeches. Logan was the very last student to give his speech. Talk about torture! To make matters worse, the results weren't going to be announced until Monday, so the poor kids had to wait through the weekend for the results.

The kids found out at 9:00 yesterday morning who won the election. I, on the other hand, had to wait until the kids arrived home on the bus at 3:45 to find out. If someone has asked me if I thought either of our boys would win I would have said, "no". If someone had told me one of the boys would lose and one of them would win, (based on personality and peer interactions) I would have guessed that Logan would win and Kaiden would not. You can imagine my shock when the boys got off the bus and I learned that Kaiden had won his bid for Historian and Logan did not win for President (he lost to two girls who actually tied and will share the duties).

I give both of the boys a huge amount of credit because neither of them seemed very affected when they came off the bus. Kaiden was not gloating because he had won and Logan was not crying because he had lost. Obviously, the best result for both boys would have been for them to both win, but aside from that, I think it was "best-case" that Logan lost to girls. I don't think the thought ever occurred to him that a girl was even his real competition. The funny thing is, both boys were a little miffed that there are only two boys on the entire Student Council (Kaiden being one of them). Apparantly, girls have been in the majority on the Student Council for several years running and my boys think there needs to be a change.

Now, I just have to figure out what exactly my role, oops, I mean Kaiden's role is as Historian. I joke about it being my job, but let's be real, we all know that as the mom, it's going to be my job to get Kaiden where he needs to be, when he needs to be there. It is also going to be my job to make sure he's actually fulfilling his obligation as Historian. As a parent, life's lessons can be such a double-edged sword. I tell ya', the things we do for our kids!