My wife and I always encourage our children to help others. We model the behavior by serving in our church, volunteering at the homeless shelter, or delivering meals to people who cannot leave their homes. We also like introduce them to other people who make service a priority.

One evening, we invited a missionary to our house to talk to the kids about her experiences in China. They were so excited because they had never met a real life missionary before. My five-year-old son, N, was beside himself with anticipation. 

The missionary’s name is Christine and she works for Campus Crusade for Christ. As she shared this information with us, N, interrupted.

“May I ask you a question,” he asked.

“Of course,” she answered.

“Did you vote for Barack Obama?”

“No,” she replied with a surprised look on her face. “I voted for John McCain. Did you vote for Obama?”

He looked at her as if she were crazy and said, “Of course not. I’m too young to vote.”

We took a seat in the living room and Christine proceeded to tell the kids about her work. A few minutes into her talk, she pulled out a book to share some photographs. N interjected again.

“Is this the part where we give you money?”

Christine chuckled and continued with her presentation. N kept interrupting her with questions. It really bothered him that some of the pages in the album did not have photographs on them. N told Christine that she needed to fix that. Meanwhile my daughter, Nee, sat as quietly as a church mouse and only opened her mouth to ask Christine what her favorite color was.

When it was time to actually give her money, N, said, “Wait. I’ve got to get my piggy bank.” He ran upstairs and quickly returned. My wife, K, asked him if he wanted to give her a dollar. He said no.

“Two dollars,” she asked. Again he said, “No.”

“Three dollars?” He thought for a moment then replied. “Yeah that sounds about right.”

Christine felt a bit awkward about taking N’s money, but we assured her that he would have been extremely hurt if she refused. N has a heart full of love and wants to share all he has with everyone.

A few days later, we received two cards from Christine. The smaller card was address to K and me. It was a standard “thank you for contribution” card. The bigger card was for the boy. Christine wrote a treatise on how N’s generosity and curiosity touched her spirit and filled her heart with joy. When I read the part about how his donation bought a Bible for a Chinese child, N’s face beamed with pride.

What started out as a lesson on giving for the children, turned into a lesson in love for the adults.

Stay Strong,
Mocha Dad

Question: How do you teach your children to help others?

Tags: barack obama, bible, campus crusade for christ, china, church, daughter, john mccain, missionary, piggy bank, son, volunteer, wife

Barack Obama is the President-Elect of our country. All I can say is, “Wow!” An African-American will be the leader of the free world.

I’m glad that Obama won the way that he did. Not only did he win by a landslide, but he won in traditionally Republican states. Now no one can say that he is the African-American president or the Democratic president. This mandate gives him the authority to say the he is the president for all Americans.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was ambivalent about Obama and his policies, but I fully understood the significance of his candidacy. What his nomination taught us is that the nation has changed in ways that would have been unthinkable a few years ago. In 1978, when I was in third grade, I was bussed to a predominantly white magnet school. I was one this first African-American students to attend the school. When we arrived, we were greeted by protesters who made it clear that they didn’t want us there. What a difference 30 years make.

My wife and children have been utterly obsessed with Obama and his family. My wife bought bumper stickers, built slide-shows to send to her associates, and spent countless hours reading blogs and news reports. One night she came into the bedroom boiling with anger. She had just read a letter from Dr. James Dobson’s organization Focus on the Family. The letter was filled with fear-mongering, hate and misinformation. Reading this letter hurt my wife deeply because she respected Dr. Dobson and his dedication to preserving family values. She wrote her own letter in defense of Obama and sent it to Dr. Dobson to express her displeasure at his inflammatory comments. After the election results were in, she was so happy that she was close to tears.

My daughter, who has followed the campaign from the start, came home very upset one day because one of her second grade classmates called her weird because she said she was voting for Obama. She also told my wife and me that the class gasped in horror when another little girl stood up and voiced her support for Obama. Today, they will be vindicated.

Even my five year old has been proclaiming his support for Obama. He was a bit disappointed when my wife informed him that he could not actually vote because he wasn’t old enough. He said that he would vote for Obama when he turns eighteen. I didn’t have the heart to dash his dreams.

A world of possibilities has opened up for my children. Now they can aspire to be anything they want to be including president of the United States. I love the following quote because it speaks so much truth: Rosa Parks walked so Martin Luther King could walk. Martin Luther King walked so Barack Obama could run. Barack Obama ran so our children could fly.

America is the greatest country in the world. I am overjoyed that Americans were able to place their racial differences aside and usher in a new era of change. Regardless of political affiliation, every American should be proud. I know I am. God Bless America!

Stay Strong,
Mocha Dad

P.S. - My daughter, Nee, never wants to get up when my wife, K, wakes her up for school. K thought for sure that the news of Obama’s victory would cause Nee to jump out of bed. 

“Wake up,” K said. “Barack Obama won. He is president.”

Nee rolled over the in bed as said, “That’s not going to make me want to get out of the bed. If you told me that you had a new doll for me, that would make me want to get out of the bed.”

I guess Obama trails Barbie among 7-year old girls.

Tags: african american, america, barack obama, change, democrat, focus on the family, james dobson, martin luther king, president, republican, rosa parks, united states

I promised that I would not write about Barack Obama unless he won the election. My daughter made me break my promise. She is only seven, but she is obsessed with Obama. She constantly asks about him, former presidents, and the U.S. election process.

Her obsession began last year when my wife bought her the book, Barack Obama: An American Story. When she first received the book, she could hardly pronounce his name. Now she laments the fact that she cannot vote for Obama because she is too young.

A few days ago, I brought home the September 2008 issue of Essence Magazine for my wife, but my daughter intercepted it and began tearing through the pages until she reached the Obama article. She spends countless hours pouring over the pictures and words. Obama’s daughters, Malia and Sasha, are her role models. She especially loves Sasha because they are the same age, are missing the same teeth and likes the same activities.

“Look how fancy they are,” she said marveling at the girls’ dresses. “I wonder if they are always that fancy?

“I don’t know,” I said.

“Do you think Sasha goes to school?” she asked.

“Of course they do,” I replied.

“She’s probably in second grade just like me,” she said.

“Probably,” I said.

“If Obama wins, they will live in the White House,” she said. “I wonder what’s it’s like to live in a mansion?” Her eyes glazed over in starry-eyed amazement.

She goes on and on like this all the time. She is fascinated by the fact that these girls, who look like her, could possibly live in the White House, but more importantly that their daddy could be president.

Before I go any further, I must disclose that I am not a gung-ho Obama supporter. I have some fundamental problems with his policies and his tendency to flip-flop on issues. He started out as a ray of hope, but has turned into another politician. Regardless of how I feel about him personally, I cannot deny the impact that his presidency could have on the African American community.

It has often been said that, in America, the land of opportunity, any child could grow up to be president. But children of color had a hard time believing this statement when they saw the faces of previous U.S. presidents. Now, maybe for the first time, they have reason to believe it. Obama has inspired young African Americans to succeed and to become involved in the political process. I must admit that it is good to see an African American role model who is not a rapper or an athlete.

So on Thursday night (the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech), I watched Obama’s historic acceptance speech with my family. Eighty thousand people showed up to see a black man who was scoring a touchdown or dunking a basketball. They came to see a black man who could possibly be the leader of the free world. Wow!

Despite my political leaning, I was impressed and inspired by Obama’s speech. My children needed to see him deliver such a strong message. He has enhanced their pride and given them a new realm of possibilities.

He has also encouraged me by actively demonstrating black fatherhood on a national stage. Like me, Obama grew up without his father, and he made it, just like I did. Because of this experience, we have both chosen to be actively engaged in our children’s lives.

On Father’s Day, Obama told a church of God in Chicago that “we need fathers to realize that responsibility doesn’t just end at conception.” He went on, “That does not make you a father. What makes you a man is not the ability to have a child. Any fool can have a child. It’s the courage to raise a child that makes you a father.”

Obama has renewed my courage, and even if I chose to not vote for him in November, his candidacy has made a difference in my life. But more importantly, he has inspired hope in African American children and voters across the country. And isn’t that the mark of a true leader?

Stay strong,
Mocha Dad

Tags: african american, barack obama, black man, children, daughter, democratic convention, election, essence magazine, father, i have a dream, leader, martin luther king, president, speech, white house