MrsBanjoClown Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 My boys (8 and 5) are showing interest in the presidential election. They have started discussions about why people vote for who they vote for. We have never discussed anything political with them, so I am not sure where to start. How far in-depth do you go when discussing politics with young children? I know ds8 is getting to the age where he can understand some things, but I'm not sure what all to discuss with him. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to address politics with kids at this age? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Texican Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 (edited) "scholastic news" (bought out weekly reader last year) is covering the race extensively at the moment. i'm subscribed for thr year. they told us that for the time being since they're doing the merger there's no sign in necessary for the subscriber area. you have to poke around the site to find the pahlateks. it's my young kid's first time hearing about anything besides George Washington so i really read it for myself so i could decide what to tell him about the issues. honestly i told him m. r. said "america doensn't have enough money and it's your fault because you're president." and o. said , "it's not my fault. i tried to help." and they're debating because they both want to be "it" next. i hope that's not too political to say. and i hope any one reading this thread remembers we're not allowed to discuss pahlateks AT ALL here. i'm only answering because i took well over a month trying to figure out what to tell my son about the candidates. i didn't want him to only know the obvious physical trait to distinguish them. now he knows their names, what they're arguing about, and that they both want to be president next. i sure wasn't going to tell him about the regular old issues everybody likes to drag out, or what i read in snarky emails. i also told him that there was another guy trying start another world war (osa) but they killed him before he could start the war (he's heard of hitler bur not 911). osa has bully friends and the president has to make sure they dont keep bullying. m.r. says o is too nice to bullies. o says no, he fights them. also note anybody reading this thread not to type the big names so you dont drive the wrong kind of traffic to this homeschooling forum from google. when i'm done typing this i'm going to hit the "report" button myself to make sure i'm not out of line. anyway, scholastic news/weekly reader is selling information about the process and (so far) trivia factoids about the runners. Edited October 2, 2012 by La Texican Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin from WTM Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Attention: Speaking as a Moderator, I'm urging everyone in this thread to model their responses on the first two posts, by jpope and LaTexican...This is a good way to discuss political education on these forums, and we REALLY appreciate the careful way they are handling it. If everyone played this nicely, we Moderators would hit the "Delete" button less often, and we'd probably consume fewer aspirins. Thanks to both of you...please continue! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsBanjoClown Posted October 2, 2012 Author Share Posted October 2, 2012 (edited) Thank you for your reply. I'm sorry if I posted something I shouldn't have. I'm just looking for "elections for kids" ideas and resources - not to actually discuss anything about the candidates here. Thank you for the recommendation of Scholastic News. I will check on that! Edited October 2, 2012 by jpope Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beatusduo Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Some additional resources for the election would be: Discuss the electoral college http://www.c-spanclassroom.org/Special-Offers.aspx We got an electoral map from C-span Collect and keep the political mailers that you are inundated with. With these we discuss the issues, but also how one candidate will market themselves. Who sent the mailer, who paid for it, what do they have to gain if that candidate is elected? Based on their age and interest of your dc, you can find several topics that may impact your family. I try to make connections for my children and what's going on and why it's important to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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