What are representatives?

A representative is someone who acts on behalf of other people to make decisions for them.

Imagine you and your friends are playing a game, but you all have different ideas about how to play. Instead of arguing every single move, you choose one person, let's say it’s the tallest kid, to speak for everyone. That person listens to what each of you wants and then decides what to do next. That’s like being a representative!

In real life, people in a town or city might have different opinions on things like where to build a park or how much money should be spent on school supplies. Instead of everyone trying to talk at once, they pick someone, a representative, who listens to all the ideas and then makes choices for the whole group.

Just like you choose your tallest friend to help decide the game rules, people in a town might vote for their favorite person to be their representative, so that one person can make decisions for everyone else.