From Nixon to Nest Boxes: A Political Upbringing

Do you make your kids pay attention to national politics? I'm curious how many parents will make their kids watch the presidential debates.

Growing up, my mom and dad just didn't follow politics. But my grandmother did, and she was a unique lady. She worked on planes at the base in Great Falls during the war and wrote several books about the homesteaders who settled in the Simms/Fort Shaw area. Many of these are available on Amazon under her name, Jane Stuwe.

I recall when America was going through Watergate. Every night, she'd make me sit down with her and watch the evening news. She never told me what to think about what was going on; she always let me figure it out on my own.

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Now, is that what a nine-year-old boy wanted to be doing? Um, no. But it was different from what most kids my age were subjected to. I also got advanced courses in making birdhouses, painting chicken coops, and planting sweet corn. And OMG, hers was the best. I've had an awful lot of corn in my day, but still nothing that touches hers.

I hope you are talking to your kids about what's going on in our country. And not just imposing your political beliefs on them, but giving them information from both sides so that they can form an informed opinion of their own.

All I'm saying is I was the first nine-year-old in Great Falls who knew that Nixon was guilty.