The Situation Room

360

Maria DiGiorgio is a lifelong New Yorker, who currently resides in Commack, with her family.  She is a devoted wife and mother, an educator and designer. Maria
is active in her community, as a PTA mom and Girl Scout leader.  She has a passion for interior decorating and loves to garden. She is an avid reader, and enjoys writing about life experiences and parenthood, as well as her personal observations about the world around us.
     For the first time, since I was her age, my daughter has sparked a renewed interest and palpable energy in me, surrounding the political frontier.  She is at an age, whereupon she is highly curious, deeply motivated and endlessly entertained by the antics that, unfortunately for her, will not result in casting a ballot for one side or the other (as she is not yet eligible to vote).  However, this little point of contention has not dampened, in the least, my daughter’s enthusiasm for all things politics!  She presents my husband and me with daily updates on the candidates:  where they stand on issues, who may be endorsing them (or refusing to do so), where they will be campaigning next, and all the up to the minute news that comes with her genuine interest and her accessibility to an I-Phone.  Fox News and CNN have nothing on her!
     At times, our family discussions veer from:  “How was your day?” and “What’s for dinner?” to “Have you seen the latest polls?”  My initial response is to respond and move on, but somehow, my husband always takes the path to seemingly endless debate.  Instead of a quiet dinner at home, with my family, I am all of a sudden dining with Megyn Kelly and Wolf Blitzer!
     In all sincerity, I must commend my daughter’s avid interest and deep concern for what will be her world, inherited through choices and decisions she is not yet able to make, for herself.  Her quest to listen, to learn, to ponder and to decide has led me to do the same, in a more thoughtful and pointed way, than perhaps ever before. As an educator, I am always keenly aware of the ability to learn from my students, as they learn from me.  Here is a perfect example of how my young daughter has been instrumental in teaching us a thing or two about this entire process, while we’ve been able to enlighten her to various aspects, along the way. I am thinking, now, not just of my own intended outcomes, but considering hers, as well.  It is exciting to think of all the possibilities.