Mom Concerned After Her 4-Year-Old Starts Saying Things He Learned From Political Ads — 'My Heart Sank'
How should parents speak to their children about politics and the upcoming presidential election?
kiatthaworn khorthawornwong | Shutterstock Politics has become an adversarial minefield, and one mom admitted that she's worried about what her toddler is learning about social issues from political candidates.
Posting to the subreddit r/Parenting, she claimed that her 4-year-old was forming concerning and terrifying opinions based on what he heard on political ads and questioned whether she handled it in the right way.
The mom became concerned after her 4-year-old started parroting things he learned from political ads.
"My son doesn’t watch that much TV but it’s on a lot during the weekends due to sports. I didn’t realize how much of it he was absorbing until we were driving and he asks me, 'Mama, why do illegals have licenses?'" she began in her Reddit post. When she asked him to clarify his comment, he admitted that he thought "illegals were driving" and are "criminals."
Upon hearing this from her son, her heart immediately dropped because that kind of rhetoric about immigrants and refugee seekers isn't something that she's ever said in front of him and it is not a belief that she subscribes to.
As soon as they got home, she began explaining to him that it's important for citizens in this country to vote, and the things he was seeing on TV were because people were trying to get citizens to vote for a certain candidate.
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The mom tried to impress upon her son that the political ads don't always tell the truth.
It's certainly difficult to explain to a 4-year-old that political ads are filled with mudslinging and problematic ideologies.
Instead, she told him that whenever these advertisements come on, he should cover his ears and sing a song to himself until they're finished.
"We also had a discussion on how people from different countries and cultures can come to our country, and they may not be born here or may speak another language but they are still human and deserve to be treated with kindness and compassion, just like we would our friends and neighbors," she continued.
It can be difficult to talk to impressionable children about politics and social issues happening right in front of their eyes.
However, by having that dialogue with your children and giving them the facts straight on, you can also avoid telling them what to think and how to think. And as much as parents want to believe their children are oblivious to what's happening in this country, that's actually far from the truth.
Most kids are aware of candidates that run for the president.
A study found that nearly all of the surveyed kids between the ages of 5 and 11 could name the candidates running for president in 2016.
In an interview with Vox, Erin Pahlke, an associate professor of psychology at Whitman College and a co-author of the study, said, "Kids as young as kindergarten and first grade can name candidates when they see their pictures."
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Pahlke encouraged parents to clear up any confusion and political misinformation that kids pick up because as much as they're exposed to it, they can often be incorrect about some of their opinions. She insisted that parents have a responsibility and duty to make sure their kids aren't misunderstanding certain topics.
She also encouraged parents to open the door to these conversations without waiting for their kids to ask because nine times out of ten, they're already thinking about these topics. However, if they don't know anything about what's happening, especially if it's a presidential election, then parents don't need to push the subject.
The mom admitted that she doesn't want her child to become a 'poster' for her political views.
Considering 35% of U.S. parents said it was extremely or very important that their kids grow up to share their religious views, while fewer than half as many (16%) said the same about their political views, according to Pew Research Center, it's vital that parents are allowing their children to form their own opinions. As long as parents are providing the right tools and information for them to make up their own minds.
Continuing the conversation with her 4-year-old, she tried explaining to him details about the presidential candidates after he started asking more questions. But, she pointed out that she kept her answers quite neutral because she didn't want her son to just copy her political views.
"He asked me who I was voting for and why, and I gave him a very generic answer but didn’t lie, I said something like, 'I’m voting for xxx because I like their ideas, and some people like your Grandma are voting for yyy because they like their ideas. That’s why all adults in this country should vote, so they have the opportunity to elect a candidate they believe in,'" she recalled.
Recently, she noticed that her son has been going around to other family members and friends, asking them who they're voting for and telling them who his parents are voting for.
While some people find it endearing and funny, she's gotten a bit of criticism from some people about just letting her son be a kid and not having to worry about politics.
The worst thing that she could've done was shut down her son's inquiries because that's not how you teach lessons and information to a child. Parents don't have to go in-depth about certain topics, but allowing that thirst for knowledge within kids is definitely an important part of raising them.
There's nothing wrong with a little bit of curiosity, and as long as parents are teaching their children what's right and wrong, and correcting them whenever their ideas start to border on hate, then there should be nothing to worry about.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.