How Do You Discuss Current Events With Children?

Photo by Charlein Gracia on Unsplash

Children are not born with hatred and discrimination in their hearts. They are born pure and innocent. The world and what happens in it is what turns them against each other. Fast forward to all of the chaos and utter ridiculous behavior that is exhibited by many of the adults today.

The way in which we handle the information that comes into our children’s hearts and minds is important. We cannot simply leave it to the news or social media to be the educators for our children in these trying times.

It is easy to forget that little pictures have big ears. I was reminded of that recently. We are in a activism state of mind around our house. We have raised our children not to tolerate injustice. As you can imagine, this can cause interesting discussions. I can remember having a heated debate with my 17 year old son one day.

You know the type of debate where they keep pushing and you keep breathing and at the end, your adrenaline is through the roof and your German Shepherd is on top of you pawing you in the face. That is her attempt at being a therapy dog. It is very effective in my situation, so I guess she is perfect for me.

The reason I bring this up is because our 12 year old listens to everything we say. Even when he is pretending he isn’t being nosy, he really is. We know that a 12 year old may take certain rantings not process them the same way a 17 year old would. So the political discussion we were having would not be appropriate to have with the younger child.

But they deserve to be involved. This is their world too. We cannot shelter them from everything. They must grow up to make well-rounded decisions that are for the betterment of all of society, not just their own.

So, as we have done with our young one, I encourage you to have a real conversation with your younger children that lays out all sides of the issues. Make sure to tell them both sides of the story. Tell them your opinion and why you feel that way. Answer their questions and then encourage them to come up with ideas to help our country get back to love and peace. Children have some of the best ideas. Their hearts are not clouded or bitter. They are our future. Let’s start teaching them about equality and human kindness now so that they will care about it in the future. I will talk to you soon.