Guiding kids — and ourselves — through the election aftermath

This story originally appeared in Kids Today, Vox’s newsletter about kids, for everyone. Sign up here for future editions.

My older kid knows this was an election week, but his biggest concern has been his school’s Scholastic Book Fair. My younger kid, who is 2, does not know what an election is.

It is, of course, a privilege to be oblivious to national events, a privilege not every child has — the millions of children who live with unauthorized immigrant parents, for example, could be very deeply affected by Trump’s “mass deportation” plan if he’s able to follow through with it. And the outcome of the election will impact the future of all children, in the US and around the world, through its effects on climate change, American democracy, foreign policy, and more.

I’ll be talking to my kids in the months and years ahead about all these issues. If you’re looking to start having more conversations with the kids in your life about elections and democratic participation, Vox’s Allie Volpe has tips on how to do that. I especially like her advice to teach children about civic engagement, something that can be easier to do on a local level. 

My older kid wrote (okay, he dictated) to New York City Mayor Eric Adams earlier this year to protest proposed cuts to library budgets, and Adams eventually reversed those cuts, thanks in no small part to the more than 174,000 letters he received from concerned New Yorkers. It was a hopeful moment in what has been (at least for adults) a year of enormous political stress. I think my kid felt he could have a real impact on our city, however small (his campaign to reinstate congestion pricing has yet to bear similar fruit).

Kids’ lives are often hyperlocal — they are affected most by their families, their schools, their immediate communities. In a way, though, that’s true of all of us — my colleague Marina Bolotnikova recently noted that her technique for managing election anxiety was to “realize how much my quality of life has to do more with state/local policy than national elections and adjust my attention accordingly.” 

As we all process the results of this week’s election, I’ll be thinking about what my family and I can do on a local scale, and what so many are already doing, no matter who’s in the White House. I also want to hear from you — have the kids in your life been asking about the election? How are they feeling? How are you talking to them about what’s going on, and about the future? What’s bringing you hope and fear right now?

Get in touch at anna.north@vox.com, and I’ll be back next week.

What I’m reading

Thousands of New Jersey students voted in this year’s New Jersey Mock Election, a project to teach kids about being an informed voter. “We realized how the citizens of America determine our leadership. It’s really amazing,” one eighth-grader told NJ Spotlight News.

As kids’ school lunch accounts move online, payment processors are charging families fees just to put money into their accounts. Now the USDA is moving to ban those fees — but not until the 2027–28 school year.

Kids are calling each other “chat.” Also, “Ohio” is over.

My younger kid keeps demanding repeat readings of what he calls “raccoon” — actually Secret Pizza Party, by the team who brought you Dragons Love Tacos. SPP is about a raccoon who dresses up like a human to steal pizza, and then there’s a party, and everyone is wearing masks for some reason. Honestly, I don’t understand this one.

From my inbox

A Texas reader wrote in that he brought his 7-year-old son to the polls this year. “The biggest deal to him was the election workers who made a big deal about a ‘future voter’ being there,” he said. “Kids generally like getting stickers but he seemed particularly pleased with this one.”

“My wife took our youngest daughter this week,” he added. “She seemed similarly pleased with the sticker and the big highlight was her loudly chanting, ‘Washington for president! I want Washington for president!’”

It’s an unorthodox suggestion, but one apparently shared by several voters who wrote in “George Washington” on their 2020 ballots; other write-in candidates included Mickey Mouse, the Hulk, and “giant meteor.”