- The election is right around the corner. (honking)
Wow! It was really right around the corner!
(boy): This program is being broadcast at a top secret frequency.
If you're receiving this transmission,
then congratulations! You're officially awesome.
You're watching Kid Correspondent:
Big news for kids.
- Hi! Welcome to the Kid Correspondent election special.
I'm Riah, Kid Correspondent.
I've put together a super awesome team
of super awesome kid reporters.
Christian, Ava, Marcus,
and Pearline.
Together, we're going to learn what elections are really all about:
Making decisions.
You make decisions every minute of your life.
Bam! So many! You decided what to eat for breakfast.
You decided to watch this show.
Thank you for that, by the way.
You're making some really good decisions.
But why are election day decisions so important?
It's time to...
(buzzing) - Hi, Riah!
(Riah): Soledad O'Brien!
So why are election day decisions so important?
- Well, election day is a bunch of big decisions.
Let's say, for example, you'd like to have a park
in your neighborhood. Well, who's the person
who also believes in that?
Voting for that person is likely to make that happen.
- Wow, that sounds like a pretty big deal.
- That could change your community, it could change your neighborhood,
it could change a lot of things, so that's a big, important decision.
- Thanks so much, that answers my question!
Thanks, Soledad! You keep on being a grown-up!
- Bye, Riah!
- When you make a decision, it can affect you and other people too.
And sometimes, more than one decision can be right! What?!
Pearline went to find out what the Kid on the Street thinks.
- I'm Pearline, and I'm gonna find out what hard choices
kids have to make in their lives.
(car honking, engine revving)
What was the last big decision you had to make?
- I had to choose what song I should play on the piano.
- Whether to watch shows or make s'mores!
- I had to pick between a soccer final game,
or a dance competition.
- Probably the decision to do online learning.
- What were the results of your decision?
- I said, "Yeah, let's do online learning."
Because I know I'm safe, and I'm also having fun too.
- I picked dance, because I knew that I did soccer
almost every day
I chose s'mores. 'Cause s'mores is like
once in a year chance. You don't get it every day.
- One of our Kid Correspondents is with someone
who's making a big choice.
Let's go live with Marcus on the scene.
- Breaking news, Ava can't make a decision about ice cream.
- Ice cream! Get your ice cream here!
How can I help you? Which one do you want?
- Hmm...
Maybe I should get the ice crea cookie sandwich,
because that's like two desserts in one.
Or maybe I should get the red, white, and blue ice bar,
because it's almost election day.
The push-pop ice cream bar... Watermelon...
It shouldn't be this hard, it's just ice cream.
- Do what I did when I was a kid,
use a decision tree. - What's a decision tree?
- It helps you decide on things.
A decision tree helps you figure out your options.
You write each of your choice on a branch,
then you add the pros and the cons of each option.
Once the pros outweigh the cons you've got your decision!
- Do you have a decision tree so I can pick ice cream?
- I sure do. Do you want your ice cream to be yellow
or green? - Another decision?!
- Looks like we're gonna be here for a while.
Riah, back to you.
- Decisions, decisions, decisions.
My girl Pearline found a kid who made a really big decision,
and I think we can learn a thing or two from him.
(Pearline): His name is Ryan, he's from Maine,
and he's an Eagle Scout.
If you're an Eagle Scout, you have to do a big project
to help the community. - Ryan, we got one!
- Ryan decided for his project
he was gonna help the kids in his city get laptops
so they could do school online.
He's here with us right now. Thanks for joining us, Ryan.
- Hey, Pearline. Really nice to meet you.
- So tell me, how did you decide to give out laptops
for your project?
- It was a mix of me just being really interested
in doing something about computers.
I had to really choose between a project that would help
a few people, versus a project that would help a lot of people
So naturally, I decided to choose a project
that would help the most people at a time.
I myself have personally loaded software onto about
forty laptops.
It really is insane what a community can do.
- Well, thank you so much for being on our show.
And thanks for joining us. Bye, Ryan!
- Thank you so much for talking with me, Pearline.
- There you have it, Riah! - Yes!
That's what it's all about!
Because of Ryan's decision, so many kids in his town
have laptops now.
And they can do online school!
(beeping) Hmm...
I'm getting information that Marcus has an update.
Let's go live to the scene.
- I'm still on the sidelines with Ava right here,
and she is still struggling to make a decision.
(Ava): I've narrowed it down to two choices:
the cherry snow cone, or the ice cream sandwich.
I think this is gonna work out fine,
and will help me make a decision.
- Yeah, it's really good. 'Cause then you don't have
to worry about consequences.
- Consequences?!
- Don't go anywhere, we'll be right back!
- Thanks, guys. A decision tree is a great way
to help us decide what to do.
But are there other ways to make a tough decision?
One thing I like to do is talk to my mom.
We can learn a lot from older generations
but do not take my word for it, take theirs.
- Mom? Can I ask you some questions?
- Of course you can.
- What do you do when you have to make a big decision?
- I spend some time, think about it,
think of pros and cons.
- I like to sleep on it. And then I put all that together
and come up with my answers.
- So, what's a big decision you had to make lately?
- Whether to keep growing this beard or not.
- That's not a big question. - Oh, I'm sorry, you're right.
That's a big decision for your mom, 'cause she doesn't like it.
- For example, staying in America,
or moving back to France.
- You've been talking about that a lot.
- Tell me why voting is a big decision.
- When you vote, you get to go ahead
and choose a candidate that you believe
is going to make the best decisions moving forward
for our community and our nation.
So are you gonna vote when you get older?
- Yeah, I think so. - Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Affirmative! - Okay, I am.
- Alright, yes you are. (laughing)
- So all episode long, we've learned how to make choices.
We've talked to grown-ups, and we've talked to friends.
We even got some help from an ice cream man
I'm pretty sure I know.
Now comes the hard part: Making a decision.
It can be a little scary.
Luckily, there are plenty of amazing kids
to show us how do to it. Just like today's Kid of the Week!
♪ Kid of the Week, Kid of the Week ♪
♪ It's the kid of the week ♪
Marcus has a story.
- Today's story is about a kid who started his own business!
A cool business that helps people.
He does it with one egg, a cup of sugar, and a lot of love.
Meet Michael, kid business owner.
He's always loved to cook.
And he's always wanted to help people in his community
When he was 11, he put those things together,
and started his company.
It's a bakery with an extra sweet mission:
For every cupcake he sells,
he donates another to feed the homeless!
How sweet is that?
- What's extra awesome is that Michael is here with us
right now. Hi, Michael!
- Hello, Riah. Thank you so much for having me.
- How did you make the decision that your business would do good?
- I was just very passionate about having...
everyone having access to the same things.
- Will you bake me a cupcake?
- Michael, you cooked up a business
and inspired us all.
And for that, you get our Kid of the Week trophy.
Here you go, Michael.
(giggling)
- Thank you so much for allowing me to be Kid of the Week!
- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
I'm getting intel Marcus has an update.
Let's go live to the scene.
- Ava made a decision, everybody!
- Wait, I don't know if I wanted this.
It's too hard.
Did I make the wrong decision?
- Oh no! It seems like Ava regrets her choice!
I gotta find out more about this.
Three, two, one! (buzzing)
Hi, Danielle!
- Hi, Riah! Thank you so much for calling!
- Danielle, what happens when you finally make a choice
and you think it's the wrong one?
- We have all been there at one time or another.
But you know the great thing about that?
If you make a decision, and you later feel like
it was the wrong one, you can still learn from it.
So the next time you're in a similar situation,
you make a different choice.
And then, the decision you made wasn't all bad,
because it eventually got you to where you needed to be.
- So you're saying don't feel bad when you make a wrong choice?
- If you made a wrong decision, no need to feel bad,
as long as you learn from it.
Eventually, it's gonna get you to where you need to go
and that'll help you grow.
- Danielle, I'm really happy I decided to call you.
That was a good choice.
- Me too! Thank you, Riah!
(beeping) - We all have to make
thousands of choices every single day.
- What to wear. - What to do.
- What to feed your vampire bat. - Wait, what? That's not great.
- Oh, just me? Sorry.
- Rainn Wilson, what are you doing at our pep talk?
- Oh, I was just watching the episode,
and I wanted to help out.
- You decided to help? - I did!
I made that decision!
- And with each decision you make,
there are consequences.
- The thing that happens after you make a decision.
It's also called the effect.
- Like a domino falling 'cause another domino...
fell on top of it!
- Or a positive consequence,
like you made a tiny baseball cap for your vampire bat, and he loved it!
- There's so much at stake.
Sometimes I want to decide
to never make another decision again!
But that's also a decision!
But take a breath. (exhaling)
- Take a breath.
- You might make a decision,
but then you realize it wasn't the best one.
Well, decide to make better decisions.
- So, here's a question for you. What can you do when you have to make a big decision?
- You can talk it through.
- You could use a decision tree!
- You can look to people who have been in a similar situation!
- But you have to think about it, you know why?
So make a choice that is worthy of you.
- And you! - And me! - And all of us!
- So when you choose, choose wisely.
- Talk it through, and do the best you can!
It sounds like a song!
(funky music)
♪ Talk it through and do the best you can ♪
Now before we go, there's one important decision
we all have to make:
Should we have a dance party, or...
should we have a dance party?
(upbeat music) Dance party!
Meep, meep, meep, meep, meep, meep!
Dance away!
So now that we all know how to make decisions,
I want to know what happens when I have a friend and we don't agree.
We'll find out in our next episode.
See you there!
(upbeat music)
You can do jazz hands this way, or this way.
I watched a lot of shows that do jazz hands.
No, those aren't jazz hands. These are jazz hands!
(laughter in the background)
(woman): Uh-oh.
- Maybe the star just doesn't like being up there.
- Breaking news here! This seems suspicious.
Everyone has the same shoes!
(gasps) - That's so true!
(stammering): Pearline went to find the, out, with the kid of the...
Oh, the saying of that word got my tongue in a tie!
(laughing) See?
- How do you feel about having to make tough deci...
(stammering): ...decisions?
That's a hard word!
- Your moustache is fine, man!
They're not rolling anymore. Wait, are you rolling?
(rumbling) - Wait, train.
Mostly the trains and the trucks that are interfering.
- Hold on, there's some airplanes going by.
- Okay, it's gone now.