A Week in the Life of a Campaign Mom
My fifth grade daughter came home from school two weeks ago and casually mentioned some pretty big news. That day, she had been elected to represent her class in the race for Student Council President. This came as a huge surprise to her father and me as she's never run before or even let on that she was interested in anything political beyond wanting to meet President Obama (who is presently tied for first on that list with JK Rowling).
The Student Council Elections are a huge deal at her school as well as highly competitive. My 10 year old pulled out a sheet outlining the campaign rules and my jaw dropped, "You only have one week?" She didn't seem fazed by the week's worth of campaigning ahead of her or about writing the speech that she would have to give to the fourth and fifth grade classes and teachers. I thought that, perhaps, she wasn't taking it seriously until I probed for more details.
"What's your campaign platform?"
"I want to help prevent swine flu in our school and get nachos back on the lunch menu."
"Hmmmmmm, interesting. How will you prevent swine flu?"
"Well, we can ask the community to donate disinfecting wipes and take time each school day to wipe down our classrooms."
I had to admit, I was impressed that she had already put that much thought into it. As I read further, I saw that she had to pick a campaign manager who would also give a speech. The candidates were given a scheduled 20 minutes period per day to campaign in each of the fourth & fifth grade classrooms. And as a long standing tradition, the SCO President is honored by having their name painted on the ceiling of the school auditorium.The more I read, the more excited I became...this was a serious ball game!
For a week, we made posters, 200 fliers, created campaign t-shirts for her and her campaign manager to wear, made badges, bookmarks and printed of hundreds of labels to be distributed. I drove her to school early each day so she could talk to the kids before homeroom. I coached her on her speech every night. In short, I got carried away.
On Friday, they were told to dress nicely which was probably the biggest challenge for my little blue streaked hair, skull fashion loving, non-dress wearing child. When she came down that morning in a skirt, I knew she meant business. I arrived to school that afternoon in time to hear all of the speeches. There were four candidates for each of the four offices so my daughter was one of the last to give her speech. As I stood in the back with my camera at the ready, I wondered if I was more nervous than she was.
My daughter seemed as cool as a cucumber while she gave her speech. She spoke slowly, made eye contact and, even though she later said her jaw was shaking, she looked like a pro. Meanwhile, I tried not to cry. After, the kids all went back to their homerooms to vote. The results would be posted on the school website later that day. As far as I was concerned, she was a winner. She worked her tail off and never became negative.
Later that afternoon, the phone rang. It was her school calling to let us know that the results were in and every office would be posted online except for hers...because she was in a dead tie with one other candidate. On Monday, there would be another ballot and the final vote would be tallied. So, we still don't know. Oh, the drama!
Today as we were riding in the car, I noticed that my daughter was lost in thought. Finally, she asked,"Mom, how old do you have to be to run for President of the United States?"
So much to look forward to...
Kimberly Petro writes about her life in The Ding Dang Woods on her personal blog, Petroville & on twitter.
An original DC Metro Moms post.
