Get the kiddies ready – it’s time to pull out the Electoral Map!

November 4, 2008 by Elizabeth Donovan, M. A.
Filed under Life's Little Lessons

Being the geeky political science major all those umpteen years ago in college, election day makes me downright giddy! What does this mean for you? Well, in this post you can expect me to cram all of my favorite political pictures, cutsie political commentating, and a demand for you to get your behind off the couch to vote in one grand finale’ send-off this evening. Yes, exciting stuff indeed.

So, let me get my first order of business out of the way right now, I’ve voted. And I strongly believe that you should too. Ok, ok, even if it’s for the “elephants,” just get to the poles before 7:00pm tonight.

Now, let’s move on to something more, shall we day, fun? A little hoopla for the kiddies tonight as you watch those wide-eyed, over-caffeinated commentators try to predict with the exact precision of a surgeon, who will win the election. Seriously, is there anything more annoying than watching CNN’s John King touch that little map turning it from blue to red or red to blue or whatever the heck color he wants as he promises that his predictions are dead on. And all of this before the first polls even close. Lovely.

So, if you don’t wanna try to explain John King’s (or the Fox commentators – I’m trying to be bipartisan here) schizophrenic antics with his on-again/off-again love affair with the computerized touch-pad electoral map, then I’ve devised a fun, and relatively stress free way to have some election night fun with your children.

Before I unveil my totally-geeky master plan, I’d like to give a shout out to Pink and Green Mama who mentioned that this kinda thing would be a great idea. In fact, she said she thought this might be out there already in the blogosphere What? Well, I haven’t seen it, and anyways, my version is better!

Dun..dun…dun-da (*drum roll*):

Ya, ain’t she a beauty? Great, glad the geek in you approves. Now on to the fun…

What exactly are you to do with this delightful map?

Well, first off, don’t let your drooling, teething toddler eat it (oops, I’ve said too much). Second, bribe your kids to sit down with you and color code the states as the election results come in. No!!! You don’t have to use the creepy blue and red “state” stuff. Come on, all of you dems and republicans out there – let’s jazzing it up a little! Try something that would drive John King nuts – use colors like purple, pink, yellow or green. Ya, that’s it. Mix it up. Election night can be fun after all!

Finally, when your children have learned all of the knowledge their little brains can hold after color coding the map (aka – you run out of ice cream or they storm off in disgust), then stay up late with the hubby and color the rest of it any damn color you please. And yes, when you are done, your hubby is allowed to make a paper airplane out of it – just like in grade school. Oh, come on, don’t even pretend that your hubbies don’t secretly long to toss one of those babies into the air!

No matter what happens tonight, whether your a donkey lover or an elephant worshiper, it’s imperative that we all set a good example for our children. No cursing, yelling, or throwing things at the TV. Let’s keep it clean moms and dads. Yes, this was my final feeble attempt to stuff in some more of my favorite shots. Worked didn’t it?