We have a ritual at our house. I should have mentioned it yesterday. Come what may, school be damned, we get our kids (now 10 and 12) to sit through the State of the Union address, significant political debates, and other TV presentations (involving no real blood) that will teach them about America’s political process. I’m working to make our family room more comfortable because the presidential election of 2008 will involve more TV-watching than usual.

When I’m flooded with Rudolf-Steiner-induced confusion and guilt about letting my children watch television as much as I do, I think, “Well if we got rid of the TV set altogether, we wouldn’t have those yummy popcorn-munching, election-year-debate screenings anymore.”

When the kids were younger, the words of the State of the Union would just rain on them like a sermon in synagogue or church and they’d watch and squirm and complain a little. Last night, after the initial “I’m doing something else right now” resistance passed, they settled into the speech, listened, and asked good questions. The president was, after all, discussing the world they are soon to inherit.

The thing that pains me today is that our particular children dislike our current president more than I think children ought to. So I actually temper myself in my own criticism of President Bush when around my kids. He’s it. We can’t just criticize. We all created him. I preach to the children: “Now, now, guys you have to be respectful, and honor the office.” In this context, it was interesting last night to watch Nancy Pelosi’s face attempting to do the same thing: honor the office but respectfully disagree at choice moments. At times, her eyes assumed a deadened glaze and her mouth seemed twisted.

How did your kids do with the speech last night? How do you teach politics to kids?