Agitprop Babies

Should we should make our babies billboards for our political beliefs? I always took my kids to activist meetings and anti-war demonstrations . Carolyn, pictured at a Maine Nuclear Freeze demonstration in 1983, attended political meetings at least twice a month during her first 18 months. As a baby she would sit on my lap and relentlessly establish eye contact with every person in the circle, one by one. No one escaped. Later she untied everyone's shoelaces. All 4 girls went to many observations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When Carolyn learned to talk, she would say, "I am a Quaker." Very young, they knew that Dad was a conscientious objector who would have gone to jail rather than fight in Vietnam.

However, I am somewhat uneasy dressing kids too young to object in billboards.Perhaps you should never dress your child in a billboard unless you are wearing it too. However, I was thrilled when my grandson Michael's dad made him a onesie that proclaimed, Happy B'day Grandma on the front and Impeach on the back. He was only two months old and hadn't quite mastered the letter C:) If they made onesies in my size, I would have worn it regularly.

Michael is an incredibly friendly toddler, who has absolute faith that everyone in Manhattan wants to wave at him and then high five him. Like his Aunt Carolyn, he works a subway car like a pol, not happy until he gets a reaction out of everyone. On the street he loves standing opposite subway steps. He has realized that if people see him the whole time they are coming up the steps, his odds of a high five are much higher. Should I get him an Obama shirt and give him some flyers to hand out?

My grandma was a Roosevelt supporter, who voted Democratic her entire life. Her children are split: three liberals, four conservatives. My uncles recall heated debates at the dinner table most nights. My parents raised six children, and I have raised four daughters, who all share the same liberal Democratic political views. Thankfully, my sons-in-law are ideologically acceptable. We worry far more about mixed political marriages than mixed-faith marriages. Even dating a Republican was a family crisis.

We didn't mean to inflict blatant indoctrination on our kids. But the newspapers and magazines we read, the TV shows we watched, the radio shows and music we listened to, the politicians we voted for, the bumper stickers on our car, the political activists who are our friends--all influenced our children. We were ecstatic that their inevitable rebellion wasn't about politics.

Political protest music is my major indoctrination weapon. My goal is for Michael to know every Phil Ochs song by age 2:) We will be in the market for a guitarist and a stepstool. He will wear his Jane Austen shirt at every performance.

I am not above using grandkids as sports and literature billboards. My English huband plans to get Michael an Arsenal (UK soccer) shirt for Christmas. This year Michael's dad gave me another perfect birthday present--a Jane Austen t-shirt for Michael. It goes beautifully with his pink doll stroller.