As preschoolers, my kids loved participating in our community Fourth of July festival. They would decorate their tricycles and doll strollers with red, white, and blue streamers and proudly march around the park. They collected buttons with patriotic slogans and waved miniature American flags. They loved the spectacle, even if they didn’t quite understand what they were celebrating.
Independence Day events can be fun for families, but without information about why we celebrate, children may not appreciate what being part of a democracy means for them. This July 4, take time to explore democratic ideals and practices together.
One aspect of democratic societies is that people are concerned with collective wellbeing as well as individual wants and needs. Help kids recognize their interdependence with others by emphasizing the contributions that others make to your family’s life. Talk about the ways that your neighbors and friends do specific things to help out. Identify local leaders and civil service employees who care for all the residents in your city or town. Acknowledge and affirm the concrete ways in which children show care and concern for others.
Another hallmark of democracy is questioning authority. Tell children stories about how our country’s founders challenged King George III during the American Revolution, but don’t stop there. Encourage them to ask their own questions and speak up when they don’t agree with something. Invite them to challenge you when they think you are being unfair, and then keep your cool when they actually do so.
Even the best democracies sometimes miss the mark. Acknowledge failures as well as successes and wonder why. Explore the reasons people give for acting unfairly. Notice the ways that such rhetoric often positions some people’s needs over others and ask whether kids think that is fair. Talk about how they feel when someone says hurtful things or threatens them. Imagine how others feel when they are the object of someone’s hatred or unjust accusation.
When democratic societies stray from their values of fairness and equality, patriotic people have a responsibility to protest. Talk with kids about protests that have occurred in your community. Make posters supporting freedom and justice for all, and then hang them in a window or carry them in a march. Send messages to elected officials asking them to change unfair laws and enforce rules equitably.
A major threat to democracy in these times is disinformation. Teach kids media literacy skills to help them analyze information. Encourage them how to learn more about organizations that post material online. Explain that AI-generated summaries may contain mistakes, so they need to check what AI says against other sources. Talk about how social media algorithms are designed to feed us only the information they think we want to hear rather than all sides of an issue. Emphasize that we all have a responsibility to question what we see and hear, especially when it threatens our communal wellbeing.
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