Talking to Kids About the Political Climate

Whether or not we talk to children in our lives about politics, kids are hearing adults talk about politics and know that people have different views. Kids are great at detecting when adults in their lives are happy, angry, fearful, gloating, worried, or stressed but may not always understand what is behind these feelings.

Maureen Costello in “What to Say to Kids on November 10 and the Days After” urges adults in kids’ lives to be reassuring and create a sense of safety but not to gloss over truths. Some of those truths:

• Emotions are strong
• The country is divided—and not just on politics
• No one really knows what this election means
• Voting matters, but it doesn’t happen on its own
• The majority isn’t always right
• The majority doesn’t always decide, anyway
• Kids really are our future

Costello’s points are pretty good for adults, too. For details about each of the points Costello makes, check out the article in Teaching Tolerance.

An additional resource:
Ali Michael. What shall we tell the children? Huffington Post November 8, 2017.
 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/what-should-we-tell-the-children_us_5822aa90e4b0334571e0a30b