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The first presidential election I remember was in 1980, the year Ronald Reagan was voted into office. I was ten—the same age as my daughter Quillin is now. The day after Reagan's landslide victory, I wrote this deadpan sentiment in my journal: "Yesterday Ronald Reagan was elected president. Dad says we're moving to Canada."

Last night, at the crowded, lively election party hosted by some friends, I couldn't stop watching our three girls and the other ten or so children in the house. Even before it was clear Obama would win, I knew they would always remember a collection of random and odd details from that night.

No one had to tell them it was an important moment. Not only had they keyed into the mood of their high-strung parents (OK, maybe I'm just speaking for myself here), but they had also been given "special permission" (via laissez faire parenting tactics) to eat whatever they wanted and stay up late—on a <em>Tuesday</em>, no less.

Much of the evening the kids were off on their own, playing games that only those under the age of 13 can decipher, running in thundering packs through the house, and periodically taking pit stops in the kitchen to fuel up on the wide assortment of savories and sweets covering tables and counter tops.

As the results started coming in and the adults began cheering, the kids gradually migrated to rooms with TVs. By the time CNN was demonstrating that there was no feasible way for John McCain to win, the sofa across the room was lined with elementary-aged children staring intently at the television and at the electoral maps they were coloring in. They stayed with us, focused, until after McCain's concession speech and Obama's victory speech.
<h3>Important civic lessons for our littlest citizens</h3>
Watching my children watch Obama was perhaps the most gratifying part of the evening for me. It's partly because I believe their future is brighter because Obama will be leading our nation and bringing people together for good (in other words, I didn't have to say "We're moving to Canada").

<strong>But I also believe my children just witnessed an incredibly important paradigm shift—one that's at the heart of how I want them to understand patriotism and the liberties and freedoms of this country:</strong> A candidate of color, with a foreign-sounding name, overcame the odds and was elected president. Competence and humility, intelligence and honor, vision and hope, were all rewarded by the electorate, rather than dismissed.

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And not only were good practices and attitudes upheld, but I see evidence that negative efforts focused on fear, divisiveness, distraction and doubt were given a serious smack-down. (If that isn't obvious enough in the presidential race, just look at <a href="http://news.bostonherald.com/news/politics/2008/view/2008_11_04_In_NC__Dem_Kay_Hagan_boots_GOP_s_Elizabeth_Dole_from_US_Senate/srvc=home&amp;position=recent">Elizabeth Dole's U.S. Senate defeat by Kay Hagan</a>. It seems clear Dole's fate was sealed in large part by her last-minute attack ad, accusing Hagan of being "godless.")

Some people raise their eyebrows over the involvement of children in politics, saying that kids simply parrot back whatever they hear their parents saying. Of course, in large part, that's true. Maybe I was brainwashing my children yesterday by helping them decorate cookies with Obama logos and then eat them—the equivalent of making them drink the Kool Ade.

But I know at least as many adults (if not more) who go to the polls voting for the opposite party of their parents, as I do people who persist in sharing their parents' political views. I'm not worried that when my daughters are 18 or 38 they won't be able to think for themselves.

At any rate, getting our offspring to identify with one political party or the other wasn't what last night was about. <strong>Last night was an opportunity for our kids to learn important civic and societal lessons. It was about being witness to participation, acceptance, an openness to change, and the power of unity and hope.</strong>
<h3>The road ahead</h3>
There is one more important lesson for them to learn, too. As hopeful and euphoric as I feel, I couldn't ignore the crowd's disapproving boos in Phoenix when John McCain first said Obama's name during his concession speech last night. I can't ignore reports about those devoted to racism, despite how far we've come. And I couldn't ignore the very sad news this morning, that the same-sex marriage ban, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gaymarriage5-2008nov05,0,1545381.story">Proposition 8,</a> was passed by voters in California.

When I feel ready to come down a bit from this high, I will begin to teach my children that last very important lesson: There is still much work to do.

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