Running for Student Council

What You Do:

1. Sit down with your child and help her figure out why she wants to run for student council. Have her write down her reasons. Encourage her to say whatever comes to mind! There are no wrong answers here.
2. Now take a look at all the reasons. Which reasons does she think her fellow classmates will like the most? For example, if some of her reasons are for personal gain (i.e. to be more popular, to get special perks, to list it on her resume, etc.), those are factors her classmates might not necessarily like as much. Prompt your child to pick three or four reasons from her list that are about others, not herself.
3. Have her think of a color scheme for her campaign. She can go classic and patriotic with red, white and blue, or she can be unique and pick a different color combo. The more unique, the more her classmates will likely associate those colors with her campaign.
4. Help her use markers and paint to create a colorful poster board hilighting her name, the office she is running for and the three or four reasons she wants to run. Make sure she uses her color scheme.
5. Now she needs a slogan. It can be simple like "Vote for Michelle" or something more personalized to suit your child's personality and campaign.
6. Have her use a marker or paintbrush to add her slogan on her poster.
7. Help your child add a picture of herself to the poster (ideally a professionally taken school picture). This is especially important if your child goes to a large school where everyone may not know her face.
8. Does your child use social media? Let her link her Facebook or Twitter accounts to her poster or even the voting buttons so classmates can contact her.
9. Have her put the finishing touches on her poster. Stars, stripes, and other small patriotic decorative additions can really make your child's poster pop.
10. Check out these simple kindergarten voting buttons.
11. Have your child use card stock, markers, and the pin backs to create a small stack of voting buttons with her slogan on them. Encourage her to get her friends or "campaign managers" to help her out. At school, she can pass these buttons out to her classmates.
12. Prepare your child for any future debates or statements. Ask her why she is running again and have her answer you as if you were a classmate.
13. Have her write down the best reasons why people should vote for her on the index cards.
14. Encourage her to memorize these reasons so she can have them readily available if anyone asks.
15. Let your child make more posters, pass out more votting buttons and recruit as many supports as she can! The key to a successful campaign is a strong campaign team. Good luck!