News and kids

[mumununmum]

I'm trying to get DD into current affairs as she is ever so curious. I was wondering what other parents are finding their children talking about as a starting off point.

[DonkeyOaty]

How old?

We started with the Sunday Times, they have continued reading it through the week as teens.

[Longtalljosie]

If it's an important news day, DD (age 6) and I sit down and watch Newsround together.

[mumununmum]

She is 8 and loves Newsround. It can be a little limited what are other stories children are interested in so i can talk about them

[Artandco]

I talk to mine about current affairs. Recently American elections, Brexit, migrants etc. But at 7years for eldest, I still don't think the actual news is suitable. It's always so violent nowdays

[IAmAPaleontologist]

We subscribe to the week junior, it is fantastic, my 8 and 10 year olds really enjoy it.

[RoughBeast]

My four year old (slightly to my alarm) is emerging as an acute listener to the BBC morning news without us noticing, and was very curious about Donald Trump since the election run-up - at the moment, all his drawings are of Donald Trump with freaky hair and an orange head, falling off his giant wall or being eaten by dinosaurs.

Which is not really what you were asking, I realise - for me, the challenge is not exposing him to more distressing news stories than he can handle, while not flicking off the radio or TV news every time he's in earshot. Lately, we've been making correlations between news stories and things we actually do - so we talked about the rise in street sleeping and bought supplies for a foodbank, and I did actually take him on an anti-Trump demo locally. I thought it was important for him not to see news as something that happens on TV/radio.

What age is your DD? Teenagers I know are involved in Greenpeace/Amnesty and refugee work.

[user1486547482]

My Kids love First News it covers all the important stories of the day in an unbiased way. It also gives background so DD learns about the subject. Tried the week Jr but not impressed looks like they copy First News poorly. DD also loves listening to BBC radio news when in the car.

[amysmummy12345]

Lots of schools use a website called espresso, sometimes children get a home log in for it, maybe ask at school to see if they have access?

[gillybeanz]

I grew up watching the news without fully understanding most of it, but it's education that follows you through life.
I saw 3 day week news and strikes, riots etc.
Now I look back and can remember watching the stories.
Newsround is good but limited to some stories, although I seem to remember most main stories were on there in a watered down way.
My dc listened to news on radio and watched on tv at all ages. Then sometimes we'd discuss certain stories, debate certain issues.

[GinIsIn]

My grandad was a firm believer in us reading the newspapers. He would buy several different ones a day and we'd read them at breakfast and then discuss them on the way to school. We must have started when I was about 5, I think. I don't know that it's necessarily for everyone, but it worked for us. I've always read the news every morning every since. There are certain things that did upset me - James Bulger, as I was the same age as his killers - the Waco siege etc, but we always talked about it very openly. My grandad always said that bad things happened when people did nothing, and bad things would happen again if we pretended they weren't happening in the first place so it was important for everyone to know what goes on in the world.

[WidowWadman]

As we don't get a physical newspaper but tend to read news online nowadays, or listen to the radio, we've got our 8 year old a subscription for First News, which is a weekly newspaper aimed at children. She also likes NewsRound for a child friendly take.

[IWishMyArseWouldBrexit]

My kids watch CNN ten and the first news video every day.theyounger watches news round,