While riding in the car, a precocious 8-year-old passively absorbs her parents’ preferred NPR programming. At home after dinner, she often hears the nightly news blaring in the background. But she shows no outward signs of comprehending the barrage of media coverage dedicated to the upcoming presidential election.
One day, out of the blue, she looks up with a crinkled nose at Mom and inquires, “How does somebody get to be president?”
What would be your strategy for answering that third-grader’s question? You could ostensibly start at the beginning with basic prerequisites, like birth in the U.S. and being at least 35 years old. On the other hand, jumping straight to a discussion of the Electoral College might be a bold move that's not exactly reasonable.
The website Kids.gov — the federal government’s official web portal for children — offers something of a one-size-fits-all solution to just such an inquiry: a poster titled “How to Become President of the United States” that measures 22-by-34 inches. It can be downloaded as a PDF or ordered free of charge, and is simple enough for a first grader to understand yet includes enough fine print to satisfy even the thirstiest 13-year-old minds.
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