Conversations With Dylan

The kid seriously cracks me up. He follows EVERYTHING - what I say, what I do, what's around us - and he doesn't forget ANYTHING! We went to the zoo earlier this week with abuela (Marcos' mom). We have talked about the capitol building a little bit and how that's where legislators meet to make laws. One day he asked me what the building on 4th South was. I told him that was the City/County building and was another building where elected officials meet to plan and make laws and make changes that need to be made. It's hard to explain the political process to a 5-year-old so I try to keep it simple, but still answer his questions. On our way to the zoo, we passed the City/County Building and he said something that I didn't understand. He repeated himself again and here's how the conversation went.

D: That's where laws are made, right?"

M: For Salt Lake County and Salt Lake City, that was where they sometimes meet, but there are other buildings as well.

D: Yeah, but they do that there, right?
M: Right. Remember when Mommy goes to vote? When you are 18 years old, you will be able to vote. We vote for people to represent us and choose people who will vote for things that we would want them to vote for. It's called a representative republic. Everyone who is a citizen of the United States and 18 years old can vote (I left out the felony part - too complicated) and I always vote because it's important that we try to elect people we think will make good choices for us.

D: Yeah, I'm going to vote too. I'm going to vote for Barack Obama.

M: Mommy didn't vote for Barack Obama, but he won the election and he's the President of our country and I will support him as long as he is our president.

D: I know mom. Who meets at the Capitol?

M: Our state senators and state representatives. We have one state senator and one state representative that represent our area here in Layton. And there are two U.S. senators and three U.S. Representatives from Utah that represent us back in Washington D.C., the capitol of our country.

D: Oh, okay.

I guess I'd better start studying. At this rate, I won't be smart enough to answer his questions by the time he's in 2nd grade. :)