Well, the long difficult election cycle has concluded with a clear winner. Here are some notes about how Alice experienced it.
Alice started off really liking Bernie Sanders. She followed him on YouTube and was enthusiastic. Then he lost the primary to Hillary. Alice was not happy, and initially didn't support Hillary. As the general election debates got started she quickly became a supporter of Hillary. During the debates, the three of us watched all three from the couch with popcorn. Alice often kept a running commentary during the debates as she found Donald to be rude and an interrupter of others talking :-) She enjoyed the debates and supporting her candidate. We loved Michelle Obama's speeches, especially her first one where she coined "they take the low road, we take the high road".
Alice went to bed on election night worried that Hillary might not win.
I woke her up the day after and gave her the news, "Donald J. Trump will be our next president." She almost started crying. But we talked about democracy and how to respond to challenges and those we do not agree with winning a contest, etc. Also, had to explain why moving to the U.K. or Germany was not the right response :-) She understood quickly and we easily moved into the rest of the day.
We watched Hillary's speech the day after and her message to young girls hit home at our house. My daughter listened to her and afterwards said that if there wasn't a woman president by the time she was an adult then she would have to do it herself. I almost cried (no surprise) with pride.
It was fun watching Alice experience this crazy election. By the end she could spot hyperbole coming from either side of the contest. She could identify what she liked and didn't and she picked out policies and behavior that she supported and didn't. Was really cool. Glad its over, but it was a cool experience to enjoy with the kiddo.
