Brian D Posted November 9, 2016 Posted November 9, 2016 With a hard data point confirming we are seeing reality, we are now in a position to reach out to our friends who never saw what was coming and show them the truth in unprecedented ways. That in mind, I was struggling with the question of what parents should say to children about Trump. I have no kids, but I've seen the question popping up among my muggle FB friends. All the attention is heading to the HuffPo article on how to talk to children. The article contains some truth, but is covered with virtue signaling and no understanding of what actually happened yesterday. Clearly the lies told by the media and a focus on Trump's past by the Clinton campaign are driving this narrative. Any honest message has to mention that, but the genius of the FDR boards might have some great insight to strengthen our message, especially for those just waking up. 1
dsayers Posted November 10, 2016 Posted November 10, 2016 That in mind, I was struggling with the question of what parents should say to children about Trump. SHOULD say? What age child? For what purpose?
Brian D Posted November 10, 2016 Author Posted November 10, 2016 I first heard the question from a Kindergarten teacher asking Trump supporters what to say to her class, without just saying how bad Hillary was. I'm thinking there are people out there who are just now starting to doubt the media. Right now all the answers to this question are from the same hoaxing sources. Most articles are pushing the "Trump creates/enables bullies" narrative. Another way to look at it is: I'm trying to go "MAGA Mindset" and create a counter narrative. Some way to reject the premise of Trump creating bullies. Right now the media has people thinking past the sale on that.
Kestrelraptorial Posted November 13, 2016 Posted November 13, 2016 Any answer would really depend on the age of the child(ren). A lot of people supported Trump, but there are huge protests and even riots against him, saying that he is an unforgivable racist/sexist/bigot/rapist etc. with no grounded evidence or proof, and one thing I might be very worried about is children who are Trump supporters, or children of Trump supporters, being bullied or threatened with the those accusations of him thrown at them, and I highly doubt that the teachers/school would do much about it. Again, the extent of how far this might go would depend on the child(ren)s' ages, so it's difficult, without that information, to offer advice. I don't know how involved/aggressive children younger than 10 would be. With children older than 10, I think (and anyone feel free to dispute me), you can begin to talk in some detail about why the election was so intense and go through some of the details of the issues that were talked about, and do admit that there is a lot of accusation, both justified and not, in politics, and that the news/media isn't exactly trustworthy. With teenagers you can definitely go into more detail. Introduce children who can talk with some complexity (and this is the parents' call) about forming their perspective on the issues and Trump's victory through examining his arguments, through logic and evidence, against what Hillary's were, and talk about your, and their, values.
ChrisN Posted December 19, 2016 Posted December 19, 2016 Kind of like the FDR podcast named UPB for Children, maybe it makes sense to put it in terms they can relate to if they're interested in it at all. I didn't get interested in politics at all till after 16 or so - Can't imagine most kids being too in to election results personally. Could be described something like - Many people have wildly different ideas about how things should be. People get really excited over politics (sad / angry). When people lose but they thought they would win, they might feel betrayed or like it was unfair. Going further than that might be too much for children (maybe?) but followup could be talking about how unfair it is to the 49% that they have to obey the 51% on a very basic / non politicized level. Eh just my thoughts.
dsayers Posted December 19, 2016 Posted December 19, 2016 I didn't get interested in politics at all till after 16 or so - Can't imagine most kids being too in to election results personally. Children are going to emulate their role models. If they see their parents caring, they're going to care. I think the titular dilemma is only such for those that exploit their ability to program another human being.
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