We are one week out from Election Day, and I want to talk about voting for a minute.

And before everybody starts tightening their jaw, I’m not interested in turning Rainbow Roots into a campaign headquarters. I am interested in parents understanding that the environment our children grow up in is shaped by more than what happens inside our homes.

It is shaped by school boards. State legislatures. Congress. Judges. Governors. Local officials. Policies about education, healthcare, disability access, sports, libraries, bathrooms, family protections, and whether queer kids are treated like children who deserve safety or problems somebody needs to solve. That is part of parenting too.

You can create a loving home. You can tell your kid you support them. You can defend them at Thanksgiving and learn their pronouns and show up at school meetings and do every beautiful, ordinary thing that makes a child feel safe. And then you walk into a voting booth and help decide what kind of world waits for them outside your front door.

Those two things belong in the same conversation.

I have heard people say things like, “I don’t really follow politics.” Okay. Your child may still be affected by people who do. And I’m not saying that to scare anyone. I am saying it because parenting requires us to pay attention to the systems our kids have to live inside.  You do not need to become a policy expert. I certainly am not one, although I’m very good at policy analysis.

But before you vote, look at the people on your ballot. Look at what they have actually supported. Look at what they have actually voted for. Look at what they say they plan to do. Then ask yourself a very simple question: What kind of environment does this help create for my child? Not just economically. Not just culturally. But emotionally. Physically. Educationally. Legally. Will my kid have more room to live their life safely? Will somebody else’s kid?

Because once you know your vote has consequences for children, “I just don’t pay attention to politics” becomes a pretty expensive luxury. Voting is one of the places where our private values become public behavior.

So whatever your ballot looks like next week, please know what you are voting for. Your child lives there too.

That’s all for now. For more, please visit rainbowrootsmedia.com. And don’t forget to take good care of yourself today.