We were excited to have a chance to talk to Lindsey Cormack for this podcast episode. Lindsey is the author of the book How to Raise a Citizen (and why it’s up to you to do it.) Most of us don’t spend much time thinking about how our students learn about how the government works, how government affects our lives, how to register to vote, and why it matters. In our conversation, Lindsey helped us understand why schools often avoid teaching civics, and she helped us learn how parents can approach these topics with their kids – even their grown-up kids! Lindsey is clearly passionate about the importance of this topic (you’ll hear that in her voice) and her enthusiasm is contagious – especially as she explained how raising a citizen can give us hope. This episode will fuel your interest in learning more about government along with your student.

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Lindsey Cormack’s book,How to Raise a Citizen (and why you need to do it) is a must read for parents – of kids of any age. We were excited to have Lindsey talk with us about her book and why civics is important and why kids are no longer getting all the information they need from schools. Civics can sound dry, but as Lindsey explained to us, understanding how our government works is essential for so many reasons.

Lindsey explained that raising a citizen is like the difference between raising an athlete and raising a spectator. The image made so much sense about the difference between raising a citizen and raising a partisan.

We learned about why schools seem to be deprioritizing civics – reasons that are sad but seem to make sense – and why it’s up to parents to help prepare their students to participate in the political process and government.

Does your student know how to go about registering to vote? This can be a great way to get started with some important conversations – and Lindsey says it’s never too late to start touching on politics.

Another topic that is so important is helping students get comfortable having hard conversations with others – especially others who might not share our opinion. We could all work at getting comfortable with difficult conversations – especially with holidays coming. There’s a key question that can be a good way to start, “What have you heard about that?”

Lindsey’s book also gives us all a primer about how government works, so no excuses that you don’t know enough to talk to your student. This would be a great place to start together.

Lindsey also mentioned at least one organization that might be good resources for more information – We the People.org.

As we so often do, we asked Lindsey if she had any books she might recommend to parents – on any topic that might interest them.  She gave us three suggestions –

How to Raise an Adult by Julie Lythcott Haims (read our review of the book)

Democracy in Retrograde: How to Make Changes Big and Small in Our Country and in Our Lives by Sami Sage and Emily Amick

Democracy: A Love Letter and a Guide for Everyone Fighting to Save It by Kelly A. Clancy

And, of course, you want to read Lindsey’s book and get started talking to your student about what it means to be a citizen.

And finally, and perhaps most important of all, Lindsey talked about how this work of helping our students understand government – well beyond just the civics of it – is that all of this work helps with good mental health and that “there is hope.” Knowing how much room we have to grow can give us a vision of a positive future.

This is a conversation you’ll want to hear and you’ll be inspired to start some great conversations with your student.

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