Politics and the Kids

We just went through an exciting election campaign, which some have equated to World Cup finals or a Manchester United vs Chelsea match (which just happened on the following day, in which ManU did a PAP over the Blues). The kids are too young to vote, but have been quite intrigued by the ongoing debates on the radio, the numerous signs and posters that appeared (and have not yet disappeared) from the lamp-posts and all the talk about voting.

They've asked us what voting means, and I explained to them that it is like writing the name of your favorite friend on paper and putting it into a box. And the friend with the most pieces of paper will win. That sparked off some discussion about which friend we were going to vote for, if I was going to vote for Mummy and how many friends I had. When I explained that you could only vote for political parties, the discussion went silent - although I was expecting some talk about birthdays, guess they aren't that corny. They were excited on voting day, not because the country was going through a historic moment, but because we would have to leave them at their grandparents house which meant Beyblades and TV!

Do I think the politics will affect our kids future? I don't think so. We've always been a conservative and practical society and any "dramatic" changes that might happen would be minimal - I guess in a way, the government tends to do the right, and sometimes unpopular, thing. In addition, we're a tiny nation floating like a boat in a sea of globalized ocean and wind currents - our strategy has always been to stay afloat and keep our sails ready to catch the wind taking us ahead, so honestly, there is not much we can do besides trying to build a bigger sail and keep the people rowing. I think that's the situation we are in.

I tell the kids to keep working hard in anything they do - studying, practicing, singing, playing, behaving themselves. With the right attitude and mindset, I feel that they will be able to succeed in almost any situation that we find ourselves in.