03 October 2012

A Child's View of the 1st Presidential Debate

I let my kids stay up to watch the Presidential debate with me tonight, because the 12-year-old had to take notes for her social studies homework, and it didn't seem fair to make the others go to bed in the middle of it if I was letting her stay up past bedtime.

Let's just say that a Presidential debate is a much different event when viewed through the eyes of a child. Forget about those boring Medicare and Social Security questions. Here is what I learned about our choices in this election (with the help of my children, ages 8, 10, 12 & 14):

Mitt Romney:
    * Likes Big Bird, but he wants to get rid of PBS anyway. ("What if he tries to cancel the Disney Channel next???")
    * Wants to help the "poor kids" get an education
    * Didn't do his homework, because he kept talking about changing things to be just the way they already are.


President Obama:
   * Really wants Obamacare
   * Thinks Romney is wrong
   * Likes to point out that Romney is wrong by twisting Romney's words around
   * Was really hard to understand


Both candidates:
   * Don't know how to follow the rules of a debate
   * Are hypocrites - they kept getting upset at each other for interrupting, even though they were both interrupting each other all the time.


The official Bartles kids' poll coming out of this debate:
  * 8-year-old would vote for Obama, "because I'm used to him."
  * 10-year-old would vote for Obama "because I like PBS"
  * 12-year-old would kick them both out because they don't know how to follow rules
   * 14-year-old is still undecided

3 comments:

  1. This is a test comment... I've had a few people say they're having troubles with commenting on my posts. I'm not sure what the issues are, so I'm trying to tweak to make it easier to comment. Let me know if the comment policy changes are working! :)

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  2. I agree with the 12 y.o.
    I'm also beginning to think that I need to teach Robert's Rules in our house.

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