Explaining the New Hampshire Primary to Kids, Robocalls and All. Because I live in New Hampshire, I got up bright and early this morning, loaded the kids in the car and headed out to vote. My children are 10, 7, 6 and 5, and the two oldest remember coming with me to vote in the last presidential election. But a primary is different, and more confusing. Even though I'd explained it several times in the last few weeks, only my oldest child, Sam, really remembered what the primary meant (and when I asked him to name some of the differences between the Republican and Democratic parties, he offered that the Democrats were represented by a blue elephant - although he was able to correctly identify his grandfather as a Republican). After I explained again that we were going to vote for the person who'd be allowed to run against the president in November ("What about me?" suggested the 6-year-old) and did my best to explain, briefly, how Republicans and Democrats differ, we talked about whom I should vote for and why. In New Hampshire, anyone registered as a Republican or "undeclared" can vote in the primary; 40 percent of voters in the primary today are expected to be independent voters (like me), and some of them will vote as "spoilers" for the candidate they think is least able to beat the president. The two oldest agreed that that would be wrong. If you're going to vote, you should really vote. The youngest two tuned out somewhere between "social" and "fiscal." It says a lot about life here in the past few weeks that my 7-year-old, Lily, could actually identify one of the candidates: Ron Paul, whose campaign has robo-called our home every night for weeks. What about him? she asked. I explained his stance on foreign policy, and she - veteran of the trip we took to China to adopt her younger sister - agreed with me that we could rule him out. I described the other major players. I'm trying, I said, to decide. Should I vote for the person I actually think is best qualified to be president, or the one I think is best among those I think might win? This was a question they could get their heads around. "If you vote for the person you think might win, you're kind of going along with what other people thought," said Sam. "You should choose who you like best," said Lily. "I thought we were going to breakfast," wailed the youngest child from the back. "And besides," Sam added. You don't know. He might win, but not if everybody just votes for who they think will win. Sam wanted to know why New Hampshire voted first. (I didn't even try to explain the Iowa caucuses. Or the electoral college, for that matter.) I didn't have a good answer, and still don't. "That's not really fair to the other states," he said, neatly summarizing my thoughts on the matter, "but I'm glad we get to anyway." At the polling station, they were surprised by the number of people on the ballot that I hadn't mentioned, Michele Bachmann among them. "I didn't know a girl could be president," Lily said, crushing my fantasy that years of feminism at home could ever defeat the blaring message of society. I filled in my oval neatly (and offered a little lesson in recent history) and gave them the ballot to slide into the counting machine, which they later agreed was the best part. Sporting their "NH Votes" stickers, they marched out, waving to the people with signs for various candidates who were just beginning to congregate behind the barriers. In the car, the radio declared Jon Huntsman to be "surging" in New Hampshire polls. He's winning! Lily yelled. "Nope," I answered, and explained why news stations don't say who is "winning," even if they know, for fear of discouraging late voters. We'll know who won here tonight, but may not know who'll be running against the president for months. Do you talk politics with your young children, or take them along to vote? I know my children often see and hear their parents expressing our political beliefs (sometimes passionately, and often contentiously) in talking to friends and family. I saw the primary as a great opportunity to focus on the process as much as the result. As for the contentious part? Well, we'll be back in November.