The Brilliant Way to Help Parents Get to the Polls – Kveller
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The Brilliant Way to Help Parents Get to the Polls

Mother holds baby putting election ballot into box on voting station. Woman with child go vote. Vector illustration

Via Getty Images

I became an American citizen back in 2019. After living in this country for so many years, I was so stoked to finally be able to take my voice and my beliefs with me to the polls and vote.

As Americans — and as Jews — there’s so much at stake these midterm elections, from protecting reproductive rights, which many of us believe are a Jewish value, to keeping candidates with antisemitic and white supremacist connections away from positions of powers.

As celebrities and internet personalities are reminding us, voting is so important right now for all the issues that we value as parents — from climate justice, to LGBTQ+ rights, to book censorships at schools and gun control.

But as a parent, doing my civic duty hasn’t always been easy. More often than not, I’ve had to schelp my stroller to the polls, try to mitigate hungry babies and toddler moodswings. While showing my kids the importance of voting is a very special thing, it can also be pretty darn challenging.

So I was pleased as punch when I ran into this low-key genius idea from Samantha Darby, a lifestyle editor at Romper, who offered on her local mom’s group to stand by any mom’s car and watch over her kids while she went out to vote.

As she shared on Twitter, the response was huge.

While going to the polls with kids can be thrilling, and poll workers are usually very child friendly, not having to wake up a sleeping baby or drag a reluctant kid out of the car to go vote can be a true game-changer.

Truly, if you want to do a mitzvah and can afford to do that on November 8, I’d suggest replicating her endeavor.

You can also host a playdate where parents can duck out and go vote while a rotating parent watches the kids. You can even organize one at a playground by the polls if that’s possible!

I hope we can all make it to the polls this midterm election. And I hope we can help our neighbors make it to the polls, too.

And if you want to commemorate the moment — there’s a beautiful Jewish voting prayer for that.

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