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Somehow I’ve managed to be out of the house for most, if not all, of the first two debates this month thanks to one kid-related endeavor or another. Late each night afterward or early the next morning, I’d find myself boning up on the high (or low) points via various news accounts on TV or online, or later in the paper. And more and more often I’d find my 14-year-old and 11-year-old actively watching the coverage and engaging me in conversation about the soundbites, the rhetoric, actual points of policy, and the media spins. (I’ve gotta say that that kind of insight really makes me happy. I often think part of my job as a parent is to make them savvy about how things in the media are being fed to them, from simple commercials to political spins.)
