Teach Kids About Elections: It May Change Africa

DEMOCRACY begins in your home. There are a lot of reasons why African elections leave a lot to be desired. Let us all work together to nip dictatorship right in the bud. We all have an excellent opportunity to talk to our kids about voting!

Our children are our future. Teach Them About Elections.

Children may wonder what voting is all about or why the election is happening (they may even wonder why adults care). Take some time to teach your kids why voting is important and answer any questions they may have.

Do A Family Vote

At home, you can introduce the concept of voting by organizing a family vote. Encourage everyone in your family to vote for their favourite meal, bedtime story or a game to play. You can even make ballots, if you'd like! Review the results together as a family.

Preschoolers may not realize that they make lots of choices every day—but when it comes time to make a group decision, voting gives everyone a fair chance to speak up and be heard.

And although not everyone may be happy with the outcome of a vote, have kids search for the positive. Try asking them:

What do you like about the winning meal, story or activity?
Why do you think other people voted for a different meal, story or activity?
How would you feel if your idea was picked? Explain that someone else in the family gets to feel excited because their idea won the vote. 

Take Your Kids With You To Vote

Show kids how the voting process works by taking your child with you when you vote on election day.

As you walk through the process together, remind your child that voting is a way for grown-ups to make a decision together.

Let them know that there are rules grown-ups must follow. Start with the basics: everyone needs to be above the age of 18 years-old and be a citizen to take part in the election.

At the polling station, kids will see that everyone needs to sign in and wait their turn. Once you are given a ballot, explain that grown-ups take the ballot to the voting booth and make a mark next to the person they want to vote for. Then they put the ballot into the ballot box.

It’s not over until all the votes are counted at the end of the night. Whoever has the most votes, wins.

Election is great opportunity to introduce little ones to the idea of voting. Explain how voting works and encourage your kids to try it—you may be suprised by how excited they get about the process!

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