My Son's First Campaign Loss

Jacob ran for 5th Grade Student Council this week, and I am proud of him for trying. This was totally out of his comfort zone, creating public campaign posters, writing and saying a speech in front of his peers, pulling for votes, asking me for a letter of recommendation and so on. He went with a "Team Jacob" campaign and designed his posters to have a Twilight motif. It was so catchy that when he went first to give his campaign speech and ended with, "Vote Team Jacob!" ALL of his opponents copied the phrase.

Jacob was mad that everyone copied something he worked so hard on, but I shared with him the compliments that came with that. His opponents were so threatened by it, and liked it so much, that they incorporated it into their own campaigns. In the end, two girls were elected.

I like that Jacob had this experience. I would have liked it even more if he was elected and got to serve on the Student Council, but there are lessons to learn from losing as well for the next time he campaigns. This may just be the start of it for him.