"What does the President do anyway, Mommy?"
If you've been a subscriber for a while, you know that our advice on Election Day is to bring your kids into the voting booth (Click here for our adventure on the primaries, including tips for talking to kids about the electoral college system). Letting them stay up to watch the election results is even more fun than having them punch the chad through the hole!
Whomever takes over the helm as President will be stewarding a troubled nation through rough times. We don't envy the position, and it reminds us of 1972's The Candidate, in which Robert Redford plays a liberal lawyer chosen to run for Senate against an entrenched Republican incumbent. Since the polls figure he won't win, he's encouraged to say whatever he feels on the campaign trail; shockingly, he wins! As he's horded by the media he turns to his chief aide and, in one of cinema's famous lines, asks "What do we do now?"
It's a great time to discuss the role of government with your family. Here's a list of books and movies to fuel discussion about what the new President's job entails.
Movies about Getting Elected and the Presidency
Elementary School:
You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown
Schoolhouse Rocks Election Collection
Middle School:
All the President's Men
Mr Smith Goes to Washington
Dave
The Great McGinty
The American President
High School:
The Candidate Eleanor and Franklin
Primary Colors
The War Room.
Books about the Presidency
Elementary School
If I Ran for President and If I Were President by Catherine Stier
Presidential Elections: And other Cool Facts by Syl Sobel
The Boy Who Ran for President by Dan Gutman
Duck for President by Doreen Cronin
We also love the Schoolhouse Rock series about government, which comes in CD format for your drives around town. You'll all be singing along. Now.... Get out there and fulfill your civic duty!
