Recent issues of national importance have resulted in an interesting feed on my Facebook account.
Ebola. The mid-term elections. Terrorism. The list goes on.
As you can imagine many of the shared posts were not from reputable news organizations. Many stories contained blatantly wrong information, were embarrassingly inflammatory and negative, or took something so out of context as to make it borderline libel.
Yes, many were about the President. Or some other elected official. Or some government-funded organization.
Oh, by the way, most of the posts I’m talking about were from women who are also mothers, and from men who are also fathers.
I fully admit that I have shared political posts. I try to share posts about issues that I care about, not about specific people or organizations. Focusing on issues instead of people tends to result in actually interesting conversation and debate. But I’ve toned down all my posting about politics and social issues because, well, it sucks the fun out of Facebook and, frankly, out of valued friendships.
Now I can’t claim to know what my Facebook mom friends say to their kids or do in their households. But I like to imagine that most moms are trying to foster a healthy view of America and the President. Because that is what American moms who love their country do and have always done.
Why can’t we do that on Facebook?
The older I get, the more I appreciate and love our country. I feel a responsibility, as a mom, to pass that love of country and our political system to my children. Is it perfect? No. Because it’s run the people, and nobody is perfect. But most of it works most of the time and when it doesn’t, the power changes hands, and we try again. I have great respect for that.
I can’t wait to take our kids to Washington, DC, to show them the White House and Capitol, and they are excited to go because they’ve been taught to love America and its symbols.
So when I am about to post a political type thing on Facebook, I start to ask myself: Would my kids be proud of me for posting this? Would your kids be proud of you for posting what you post about politics and the President? Is it in line with your love of Country? Are you modeling how you’d like them to be behave as citizens of this great country?
In addition, are we teaching our kids how to engage in a healthy debate? How not to resort to negative attacks or false accusations? Are we teaching them how to collaborate to find solutions, rather than pride themselves on ‘sticking to their guns’ and not compromising?
We could use more of that approach in our current and future leaders.
Don’t those lessons and behaviors begin at home?
About Mary Beth Cox