How do I explain this election to my 1st grader?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To add a bit of levity - my K DS said

"I'm glad he won, I don't like GIRLS"


and then he asked what was for breakfast. Our kids will be fine, as long as we model that for them

I have kindergartener boy/girl twins and they IMMEDIATELY chose sides based on gender when we started talking about the election and voting (a couple of weeks ago).

Frankly, I'm glad if that's the sum total of their understanding of the presidential election - it was hardly something I felt comfortable holding up as an example of our democracy at it's best. I'm glad they are young enough to not need to know more than that about the conversations that have been happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No words.

#dramallama

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 6 yr old was in tears this morning. We cried a bit together. That helped.

You should be careful about this. Its cares children to see adults lose control and cry. It's one thing if it's something that can't be helped like grandpa has cancer. But over an election? Children should be comforted right now not scared and worried further.

+1. My comment was deleted, so I will rephrase. We owe it to young kids to keep things in perspective. This is not the end of the world. If you act like it is then they will walk around with anxiety that they can't handle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Red team won. We are disappointed, but we will have another election in four years. In the meantime, we need to be good leaders because local/community leadership and action are more important than an election that happens once in four years. We need to work with all the leaders in our country to support and help each other.

We can also talk about checks and balances.

+1000
I also added with my second grader a reminder that he should always be kind and if he sees another kid getting made fun of, he should be brave and step in.

[Anonymous]

I find it interesting that 1st grade kids don't seem to know and understand more about what is happening with the election (especially 1st grade kids in DC).

In my child's class - almost all of the 1st grade kids are very well versed in what happened and why (and several people are working on the campaign for HRC or similar equal rights projects).

Perhaps you all are not really from DC but out in VA and MD?

[Anonymous]

It was so hard to tell my third grader this morning. Kid is worried about Trump having his hand on the nuclear trigger and starting World War III. I hadn't told him about this -- he picked it up at school. I reassured him that I didn't think this would happen.

Kid is also worried about what the election will mean for black people (there are many at his school) and for Jewish people.

We hadn't talked about any of this, so I know the kids are talking about it at school.

I was feeling devastated myself but tried to tell him we'd be safe, that this is how democracy works, that we will keep trying to make the world a better place.

Deep breath.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it interesting that 1st grade kids don't seem to know and understand more about what is happening with the election (especially 1st grade kids in DC).

In my child's class - almost all of the 1st grade kids are very well versed in what happened and why (and several people are working on the campaign for HRC or similar equal rights projects).

Perhaps you all are not really from DC but out in VA and MD?

Us bumpkins out in VA and MD and our bumpkin kids. We don't really understand elections or how they work. WHATEVER.

I consciously chose all along to focus on educating my first grader about the process. I didn't make any demeaning comments about either candidate. So my 6 year old wasn't crying this morning. We talked about the outcome and how lucky we are to get to vote and live in a place with peaceful power transitions. I said we didn't vote for Trump, but sometimes your candidate wins and sometimes they lose.

That's what is age appropriate and I honestly feel that people that share much more than that with kids at this age are bad parents. Talk to your friends about how much you hate Trump.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was so hard to tell my third grader this morning. Kid is worried about Trump having his hand on the nuclear trigger and starting World War III. I hadn't told him about this -- he picked it up at school. I reassured him that I didn't think this would happen.

Kid is also worried about what the election will mean for black people (there are many at his school) and for Jewish people.

We hadn't talked about any of this, so I know the kids are talking about it at school.

I was feeling devastated myself but tried to tell him we'd be safe, that this is how democracy works, that we will keep trying to make the world a better place.

Deep breath.

wtf kind of garbage are you telling your poor kid??? Seriously you have ISSUES! Now I know why I constantly have to talk my anxious kid down. He hears this type of shit from his friends at school and I have to explain to him that he is safe and that he should think rationally and believe what's in front of his eyes, not some crazy hype that he hears from his friends (through their paranoid, psychotic parents!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was so hard to tell my third grader this morning. Kid is worried about Trump having his hand on the nuclear trigger and starting World War III. I hadn't told him about this -- he picked it up at school. I reassured him that I didn't think this would happen.

Kid is also worried about what the election will mean for black people (there are many at his school) and for Jewish people.

We hadn't talked about any of this, so I know the kids are talking about it at school.

I was feeling devastated myself but tried to tell him we'd be safe, that this is how democracy works, that we will keep trying to make the world a better place.

Deep breath.

wtf kind of garbage are you telling your poor kid??? Seriously you have ISSUES! Now I know why I constantly have to talk my anxious kid down. He hears this type of shit from his friends at school and I have to explain to him that he is safe and that he should think rationally and believe what's in front of his eyes, not some crazy hype that he hears from his friends (through their paranoid, psychotic parents!).

Sorry, just read that your kid hears it at school too. You have my sympathy. It's frustrating, isn't it? Please accept my apology for misreading your comment.

[Anonymous]

PP again. I told my kid that if he hears anything scary or that worries him at school today, he should talk to me or his dad.

Some of the BS that people are feeding their kids - people should be ashamed of themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP again. I told my kid that if he hears anything scary or that worries him at school today, he should talk to me or his dad.

Some of the BS that people are feeding their kids - people should be ashamed of themselves.

I'm PP 12:57

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it interesting that 1st grade kids don't seem to know and understand more about what is happening with the election (especially 1st grade kids in DC).

In my child's class - almost all of the 1st grade kids are very well versed in what happened and why (and several people are working on the campaign for HRC or similar equal rights projects).

Perhaps you all are not really from DC but out in VA and MD?

Us bumpkins out in VA and MD and our bumpkin kids. We don't really understand elections or how they work. WHATEVER.

I consciously chose all along to focus on educating my first grader about the process. I didn't make any demeaning comments about either candidate. So my 6 year old wasn't crying this morning. We talked about the outcome and how lucky we are to get to vote and live in a place with peaceful power transitions. I said we didn't vote for Trump, but sometimes your candidate wins and sometimes they lose.

That's what is age appropriate and I honestly feel that people that share much more than that with kids at this age are bad parents. Talk to your friends about how much you hate Trump.

Some people seriously can't talk about anything without mentioning that they live in DC in every other sentence.

[Anonymous]

Oh for FFS - all of this craziness is going to create a generation of nuts. The reality of this election is that the process worked, the people elected who they wanted. You can tell your kids that it wasn't your choice in a president but they are safe and spaghetti is for dinner. A 6 year old (even your precious genius snowflake) is not going to understand the implications of this election so do not risk stressing them out with your fears.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP again. I told my kid that if he hears anything scary or that worries him at school today, he should talk to me or his dad.

Some of the BS that people are feeding their kids - people should be ashamed of themselves.

I'm PP 12:57

I'm the pp who was rude to you, (again, I'm so sorry ). Sounds like you are doing everything you can and you're doing the right thing. I tell my son to call his friends out for being hysterical. My son is in 5th grade, but he still takes his friends quite seriously. He doesn't understand this political stuff because the stuff these kids are saying is so outrageous. Most of the political stuff we talk about with our son is correcting wrong information and giving rational, age appropriate answers to his question. My husband is a citizen, but he came here from a third world country as an adult, so he's able to offer a different perspective, but it sucks that his friends have such an influence on him and that it's so negative.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why anyone would have framed this election to their kids in terms of nuclear codes, war, losing their friends, hate, etc. It's a election. Yes, everyone thought Hillary would win but you had to know there was a chance she wouldn't. I'm so uncomfortable with this notion that many of my friends implanted in their kids that Hillary represented good and Trump represented evil. I don't like Trump and didn't vote for him, but to tell children he would do a lot of bad things (failing to mention the role of Congress, too) is irresponsible. My 2nd grader heard about some things he said from friends. He also heard from Clinton's campaign commercial on "your children are watching". I told him there are people who say things they shouldn't say all the time and it's up to us to stand up to statements like that when we hear them in daily life. Then we talked about some of the differences in beliefs between Republicans and Democrats and the role Congress plays, too.