Southwestern College Santa Fe, NM
On Tuesday, November 5th, I sat in front of my TV in Texas, watching states in my country turn blue or red in unison with much of the nation and many worldwide. How thrilling it is to feel as one in a moment of international tension—to know that billions of eyes are watching and paying attention to the same thing that I am. It is uniting and divisive simultaneously, like a highly anticipated sports game. My team is the best, and the other team sucks! *Cheers*
I sat there with my husband and my daughters. My daughters are nine and six. They learned a lot about the election in school and got to vote earlier that day on what cookie they would elect as their favorite. Interestingly, they had four choices. Four different avenues of expressing their desires and having them heard by the whole.
There were also discussions at their school, mostly between other students, I believe, about the presidential elections. It is interesting to hear their thoughts and opinions based on what their friends and other children their age have to say about our two presidential candidates in the United States. I personally haven’t spoken much at all about my opinions on either candidate, who I voted for, or about third-party candidates. I haven’t talked much about policies and my beliefs except for my stance on abortion because my girls were there when someone close to us found out they were pregnant and had to book a flight out of Texas. Even still, I spoke about it neutrally and explained why it wasn’t legal from the conservative perspective. I am an educator, and I cringe when I hear my students at school spouting politics that they know nothing about. It’s so clear that their parents are forcing ideas down their throats that they can’t understand.
But, my girls. They were so excited to see a woman up there. When I told them there had never been a woman president before, they were shocked. Sonnet, my oldest, became full of justice. She has been determined for years that she does not want to give birth to children, and as someone who is rapidly approaching pubescence, she is concerned about womanhood and all that it entails. I discuss any questions my children have openly, factually, and neutrally. If they ask for my opinion, I give it, and then provide other perspectives.
My girls joyfully cheered and discussed how powerful and smart women are, while watching a woman gain momentum as the president-elect. And then I watched their faces fall as all those states turned red. Sonnet nearly cried. “Oh no, Mommy! Why is everyone voting for him? Don’t they know? Don’t they know? Why don’t they want the woman?”
I am a first-year, distance learning, Art Therapy student here at Southwestern. So far I am taking Applied Theories of Human Development and the Psychology of Altruism. In Human Development, we have read Bill Plotkin’s Nature and the Human Soul which focuses on the nature-based development of individuals. According to Plotkin, Sonnet, at 9, is in what he calls the “Middle Childhood” phase (typically ages 4 to 11), associated with a sense of wonder, discovery, and exploration of the world. Children at this stage start to see their place within larger social structures and feel emotions like empathy and justice.
In Sonnet’s case, her response to the election reflects her deepening awareness of gender equality and fairness. Plotkin emphasizes the “innocent sage” stage, where children begin to recognize and challenge inconsistencies between their values and the values they observe in society.
We also are reading more traditional notions on human development, including Erik Erikson’s psychosocial model, which divides child development into distinct stages, each characterized by a particular conflict that fosters growth. At her age, Sonnet falls into Erikson’s “Industry vs. Inferiority” stage (ages 5 to 12). Children develop competence and confidence in this stage as they engage with society. They’re highly observant of social structures and begin to form an understanding of societal norms and roles.
For Sonnet, observing the election and witnessing how women in leadership are perceived can profoundly affect her sense of competence and self-identity as a girl. Her reaction—sadness and confusion over the lack of support for a female candidate—reflects the developmental conflict of this stage, where societal messages shape children’s confidence or feelings of inferiority. When she asks, “Why don’t they want the woman?” she confronts complex questions about her worth and potential as a girl and, eventually, a woman.
Understanding this potential psychological impact and seeing my children’s emotional responses to the election fills me with both sadness and concern for the future. As my oldest daughter moves through puberty under this new presidency, I wonder how these societal messages will shape her identity and the identity of so many others.
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