President’s Day is coming up and this is a great time to take a moment and discuss what a president is to this county and what they do to make America great. We may tend to steer clear of discussing politics with our children, and with the ugliness surrounding our current political climate, it’s no wonder we would rather protect them from it. However, it’s important for our children to know how things work in America. It can also be fun for them to learn about the presidents and politics. Introducing your kids to the elected leader of the country might be the simplest way to introduce them to our government .
Take some time to look up your favorite president and talk to your children about him. Depending on the age of your child, you may want to keep away from subjects concerning policy and politics. Pick a president, and focus on who he is and try and get to understand him as a person. It will probably interest your children to know that such a powerful person is just a person like everyone else—with likes and dislikes, hopes and fears, mistakes and triumphs. It can also show them how just about anybody could be president, even your child!
The deeper you peer into the American Presidents’ history and the contribution to forging America, the more you learn about its people as a whole.
Start your search here:
- http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents
- http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States
Some fun facts about President Barack Obama:
- President Barack Obama is our 44th president, but there actually have only been 43 presidents: Cleveland was elected for two nonconsecutive terms and is counted twice, as our 22nd and 24th president.
- President Barack Obama was born to a father from Kenya and a mother from Kansas.
- Obama worked his way through college, aided also by student loans and scholarships.
- President Barack Obama attended Occidental College and Columbia University, and went on to attend law school to became the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review. He later taught law at the University of Chicago.
- Obama became President of the United States on November 4, 2008.
- He does not like ice cream as a result of working at an ice cream shop as a teenager.
- He collects Spiderman and Conan the Barbarian comic books.
- He was known as “O’Bomber” at high school for his skill at basketball.
- His name means “one who is blessed” in Swahili.
- His favorite meal is wife Michelle’s shrimp linguini.
- He won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir, Dreams From My Father.
- He has his hair cut once a week by his Chicago barber, Zariff, who charges $21.00.
- His favorite fictional television programs are Mash and The Wire.
- He was given the code name “Renegade” by his Secret Service handlers.
- He was nicknamed “Bar” by his late grandmother.
- His favorite artist is Pablo Picasso.
- His specialty as a cook is chili.