I remember in second grade when I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. Unlike now in my junior year of college where I'm still unsure of my place in this world, when I was a kiddo I wholeheartedly had a clear and overly ambitious vision of my future self. I envisioned myself as an astronaut, a singer, an artist, a professional athlete AND the president of the United States. Yup, I wanted to be everything, despite my lack of actual talent when it came to most athletic sports, my extreme fear of heights as well as my poor cry of a singing voice. Back then being president was a pretty cool thought. A whole big mansion to yourself, a good paycheck, doing whatever you wanted whenever you wanted and frankly being the most powerful person in the world: what's not to like?
Times have changed from when I was an ambitious little child ready to take on the world. I've grown older and wiser, and more confused on where I want to contribute my efforts to make my place in the world. The youngest generation of kids today have a different take on becoming the head honcho of the oval office. Only 35% of children ages 6-12 said they would consider one day running for president of the United States according to a study conducted by Highlights on the opinions of 2,000 school children. The pressures of the job as well as outside pressure from critics seemed to be the common theme running through the reasons why 65% of kids claimed they would not be interested in becoming President of the United States. Whether it is an indication of lack of confidence we are instilling on the future generations of children to be leaders or the receptiveness of children to seeing and hearing the negative comments of the candidates and media, the role of president is seen as a job with high demands and low rewards in the minds of children.
Even the kids are receptive to the the talks of domestic and foreign terrorism threats, with over 50% of these children citing national security and safety as the number one issue the next president should work on once in office. One of the majority qualities needed by a president according to the study was honesty at 44%, with attributes such as kindness, courage and intelligence also being top qualifiers
We may not be able to control everything in life but we do have the power to change the way the children of the younger generations think and see the world as well as shape the world around them. In the words of Kid President, "Doing nothing is a great way to change nothing," therefore if you are over the age of 18, do your civic duty and please vote this Election Day!
