MomsRising: Family-friendly event kicks off early voting

Voting is such a family tradition in our home that my youngest son’s birth story starts out at the ballot box. OK, that might be a slight exaggeration, but hear me out.

It's the last day of early voting and I woke up before sunrise to what I thought may have been my water breaking. I know my uncertainty might sound strange, but it was not like it is in the movies with a big gush of water puddling on the floor.

When my excitement woke my husband, we began to strategize about the day. When should we call the doctor? What do we do until my contractions kick in? Who can we call to help us with our older children? All the typical things you start to think about when labor might be near.

Once we realized that our son’s birthday might be that day, the first thing we decided to do was VOTE! Early voting closed at noon, so we packed up our older children and headed to the polls.

It was not until I was standing in line to vote that I became certain that my water had broken and I started experiencing mild contractions. One hour and twenty minutes later, I was able to cast my vote in the 2014 election.

I wish I could say that my youngest also made his arrival shortly there after, but he waited a few days more. He and I snuggled skin-to-skin election night, watching the returns come in. I don’t think he wanted to miss any of the action.

Another voting tradition in our family is joining MomsRising and Kids Voting Durham for their early voting party and parade. This is the sixth year for this great event, and it’s become something everyone in the family looks forward to each year.

This year’s party will be super hero-themed because voting is a super power we can model for our kids. It’s a way each of us can help change the world where our kids are growing up.

Here are all the details for this year’s party:

EXTRA EXTRA! CALLING ALL Super Heroes and Super Heroes-in-Training: Come celebrate voting at the Voting is a Super Power Early Voting Party and Parade on Saturday, Oct. 24, in Durham!

Children and adults will make capes, take pictures in a super hero photo booth, make instruments, and other crafts/activities. Then we will blast off with a marching band leading the way to parade through downtown to the early voting location at 201 N. Roxboro St. where Durham voters can cast their vote. The event is nonpartisan.

The library story time and event will be in both English and Spanish.

Follow along on Twitter with #WeVote and share photos of your family voting! If you are unable to attend, we still hope to see pictures of your family voting traditions, new and old!

Like so many thing in life, kids will do what they see their parents do. Let’s take our kids to vote and show them it’s something worth celebrating!

If you aren’t able to make it to the party, you can find information on early voting locations, schedule, and absentee voting here, or you can call the Durham Board of Elections at 919-560-0700.