After the response to my five year old daughter's original musings on the last Republican debate (http://www.dailykos.com/...), she was eager to share her thoughts on the first Democratic debate. She actually rushed us home from dinner at a local Indian restaurant to catch the opening statements... leaving her Tikka Masala relatively untouched.
After opening statements, her first comment was, "This debate show is too much of a grown up thing."
I guess the implication was that the Republican debate was not a grown up affair.
I said, "Yes it is honey. Yes it is."
I began to ask her about each individual candidate.
First up Sanders: That guy looks like a grandpa. Is he a grandpa?
O'Malley: He looks sad and his voice is trying to be too loud.
Clinton: I like her. I like her lipstick (sidebar, it actually looked like she wasn't wearing very much). I like her earrings and I like her cheeks. Her voice is loud and clear.
Webb: His hair is too short and his voice is kind of quiet and whiny.
Sanders: What is that dot on his coat? (I guess she noticed that it was a dot instead of an American flag pin. I had to say I didn't know. Does anyone else know so I can share with her tomorrow?)
Clinton: Uh Oh! Why did she say "American blood"? That's not nice. Otherwise I like what she's saying.
O'Malley: His voice is to eee-eee-eee (she demonstrated with a sing songy up and down voice).
Sanders: Why does he need glasses? Are his eyes bad? Do you think he reads a lot to his grand kids? He must if he has glasses!
--- Long pause for lost CNN feed. Why is it that we never lost Fox once, but our CNN feed was absolutely horrible? We worked on jammies and nighttime routine during the lull----
Daughter commentary: Are all of them trying to become President? I hope the girl gets to become President! (Said with great enthusiasm). I think she's a grandma. Maybe she is married to the grandpa?
On Chaffee: He looks too scary for me!
Sanders: The grandpa would also be a good President. But I want the girl!
Daughter commentary: Black lives do matter. He said (Sanders) "African American community". That's good. That's good.
On O' Malley: Is he the only one who was a governor? (said after the moderators referred to him as Governor O'Malley). Why is he wearing that tie?! (sidebar: I saw nothing amiss with that tie.)
On Clinton: (when I asked what she thought of Clinton's discussion of black lives matter), she said that she likes how "the girl" talked about it because she talked about African American children. Then she said, "Do you think she can become President, because I hope she does for real."
Daughter commentary after a comment made: How many people are in jail? What does disproportionately mean? Is jail super crowded, then? (Poor kid trying to process some weighty topics).
--- Another long loss of the feed. We read a bedtime story called "Buttermilk" from the Serendipity series.---
When I asked my daughter about her thoughts on climate change she said, "Well, it always snows on the North Mountain!" (I hope you all get the important Frozen reference here.) Then she added after thinking for a minute, "It would be sad if it got too hot."
More daughter commentary: For real are all those people (gesturing at the screen) alive or dead? (I say they are alive and real) She responds with, "Well, all their great-grandpas are dead, because they are all old."
Then, surprisingly, she turned the tables on me and asked what I thought of that guy (Chaffee). She seemed very concerned with Chaffee. I said I thought he was alright and she said, "But mama, he's actually very scary."
My 3 1/2 year old paid a sudden interest and I asked her about Sanders. She took the question very seriously and pondered before saying, "He's good."
The five year old chimed in and said authoritatively, "He's the best boy in this show."
Then Clinton came back on and the five year old said, "Shh. Shh. She's my favorite! She's my favorite!" The 3 year old had to put in her two cents and say about Clinton, "Best, best, best!"
We lost the feed again at this point and it was really pretty late for bedtime (8:30 our time), so we stepped away.
I asked for a re-cap and she said, "I like the woman so much because she's beautiful and I do like the grandpa too. He's nice."
Her final summary statement was, "I like this debate show better than the other one because all the people are less scary. Except for that one guy (Chaffee). He's still scary mama. I promise."
So there you have it. The first Democratic debate through five year old eyes.