PUBLIC OFFICIALS AND PRIVATE KIDS



I hesitate to write an article focusing on Elected Officials kids because I fear that I will add to the public light on public official’s children. But I believe I can address this issue is such a way that it gives all of us a better understanding of what it is like to have leaders families live in a fish bowl.

Public Officials lives are open for examination and scrutiny. When you get elected you expect that the public will be made aware of your life by the written press and media. Your name will appear in print in positive ways and sometime negative ways, but it comes with the territory of getting elected to office.

However, what about the children of our elected leaders? Are their lives open for public review? When they make mistakes and error in judgment is it our business?

I believe that children of elected officials should be given their privacy, even though their family has a public image. The fact is, they have not chosen to be in the spotlight, it was imposed on them.

I have three children. My oldest will be thirty this year, the middle child twenty-five, the youngest sixteen, and a junior at Enfield High School. I mention this because it gives credit to my viewpoint on public officials having private children.

I have been an elected official, serving on School Board. During that time my kids, the older ones being in High School and Middle School, lived in a fish bowl. When they made mistakes, it made the papers. At school they lived with my decisions that affected the teachers that teach them. Believe it or not they were even pressured to influence my decisions. It was difficult for them to be a normal, everyday student.

A couple of times in my kid’s teen years they got in some trouble. Where most families deal with this privately as a family matter, my kid’s were treated as though more was expected of them because of the position I was holding in the community. This gave me great pain and complicated the situation.

Children of elected officials need to be left alone. They need to be given the opportunity to live their lives, mistakes and all, as any other child in the community. If they see their lives affecting their parent’s life it can cause resentment at home and cause more actions of rebellion.

Here is how we as a community can safe guard the children of public families.

One, remember all kid’s make mistakes. Public officials children are no different then your kids. They have the same aptitude for greatness and the same temptations for making errors in judgment.
Two, when you disagree with the elected official on an issue and voice your opinion remember that person’s child may hear your criticism. Sometimes children of elected officials become misdirected and rebellious in a reaction to their family being placed in the public arena. Hearing harsh and even mean words from the community can push them over the edge and cause them to make wrong choices.

Three, teach your own children to give some grace to these children. Remind your kids that politics can get ugly at times and elected people may be spoken to or about in critical ways, but it should not be reflected on the kids.

As I said at the beginning of this article I hesitated writing about this because one of our elected officials just saw his family deal with this issue. But I hope that I have not added to the press coverage in a negative way, but shed some light on the challenge it is to raise kids as a public figure in a private way.

Our kids, will for the most, make us proud. There will be times they will test life and make mistakes. Let those times be a family matter. Let us go public with their attainments and give privacy when they make errors.
The simple fact is kids will be kids. My kids caused my hair to turn gray and then loose. I have watched them grow into mature adults and doing well in life. Nevertheless, it took standing by them in times of trouble and saying a lot of prayers for them. So, give public kids some room to grow and always pray for our elected officials and their families. It is not easy living in a fish bowl.