"My parents dont let me watch the news": reflections on 11+ interviews I have carried out

I'm not actually surprised, OP, but I do agree that it is wrong to shield children from current affairs.

Even if you don't watch the news, you can still discuss daily news stories, and teach children to analyse them. I can't remember a time when I didn't do this, tbh. How are they going to learn otherwise?

Mine did - must have shone in other ways

Talking about it afterwards, I really do think that the question (totally accidentally and quite unexpectedly) threw her, because she just didn't have a typical grasp on what it meant for something to be called the "news". Her earliest memory of a story was the search for Madeline McCann, other things that stuck were the election of Obama, the rescue of the Chilean miners and British elections

I can still remember news stories from when I was at junior school - botulism outbreak for example, and lived the 3 day week and power cuts, so strikes, industrial relations and wat inflation meant for pocket money were right in there too. Also remember DDad listening carefully to Budget announcements, and I remember thinking that as he thought it was important, then it really must be and I paid attention and got him to explain several of the concepts to me (I must have been such a delight in the playground!)

I think if we are to direct our children to news sources they should be unbiased (if this is possible). If the child is exposed to the Daily Mail and nothing else they will take on a certain perspective of society and similarly the Guardian. I do believe we should bias our children's political views at an early age. Teachers in particular are obligated not to express political views. It could be argued that a lot of news items need context for discussion e.g.striking, BLM, taxation etc. so I think being conscious of age might not necessarily be a bad thing when gradually introducing children to the realities of the world. Also note not all new is totally trustworthy.

My 7 year old would have nightmares until the end of time if I let her watch the news. She watches a small amount of Newsround at school, and that’s plenty for her. She’s a wee anxious thing - no good would come of her knowing what a total bin fire the world is when she’s 7.

Did the three non news watchers not pass the interview?

The trouble is that there is a lot of knowledge in the world that needs to learned, knowledge is cumulative, and it takes years and years to build up.

It's hard to feel interest in something that you know absolutely nothing about, so kids who get well into their teens and know nothing about current affairs, are not familiar with terms used in the news and facts about the world, are unlikely to go out and educate themselves at that point. And then before you know it, they are voting age and still don't have much of a clue about what's going on.

I could have killed one of my offspring when asked to talk about a news story at a school interview - she told me she couldn't think of one

"what about the war in Afghanistan - your father's out there for heaven's sake"

"but that's not news, that's Dad"

Also she read "the Week Junior" and I always had the morning news on as we got ready for school, and we used to talk about stuff from that.

It was just a moment in interview when her thinking froze.

Could you be with someone stupid?

It's this thread and the Op's dh has fallen down the you tube conspiracy theory rabbit hole.

I buy the Week Junior to solve this problem. Both the regular version and the Science and Nature one that comes out every three months are excellent.

Plus with covid and the war, half the time It's things best left for adults only to see.

What about those 10y in Ukraine or those in Western Europe between 1939-45 ? For a sensitive infant school child (age 4-6) I'd agree, but most 8,9 and 10 year olds are capable of understanding these things. Of mice and men is a yr7 text, plenty of misery in that. We read the hand maids tale at the same age. This is such cotton wool parenting..

In my dc's class there was a large group of kids who were not allowed to watch the news but were allowed to watch love Island.......... There is a thread on AIBU now asking 'Could you be married to someone stupid' or similar. I guess there will be more candidates for that type of thread in 10 years time.

I think it’s complex OP.

I’m a journalist by profession and was a complete news junkie from childhood. My school got the Mail (I know) and the Express (which leaned centre-left in those days, pre-purchase by Desmond). The news was a lot of Charles and Di’s marriage, stuff about HIV / AIDS, and Thatcher v Kinnock.

But despite the early HIV coverage being scary, there was generally more light and shade. These days things are either a bit shit or deeply worrying. I encourage my kids to watch Newsround and get The Week Junior, which does an excellent job of creating some light, usually with conservation stories.

Sadly a lot of people don’t share news as a family as they get it on their device, so it’s not in the environment. As an industry we were so excited at tailoring my news content that we never really thought about the strengths of the traditional model in challenging preconceptions and aiding general knowledge.

I don't watch the news. I read a paper I subscribe to (the times) however the news quality is so poor and biased imo I refuse to watch it anymore. Plus with covid and the war, half the time It's things best left for adults only to see.
I hand select what I think my dd should know and talk through it with her.

Her school discuss current news topics and if boarding they watch the children's news.
I personally think at 11+ they have plenty of time to learn about so many depressing things that are going on. If I was in your shoes I'd look for a more appropriate question at this age even though I know historically it would have been a common question.

For the serious answers:

The news matters.
Knowing what is happening matters.
There is so much age appropriate news information out there, but tbf, even TV news is so watered down generally compared to the past.

At secondary school, going forward, these children who have been protected from reality are not going to have any critical thinking skills, (which start to be taught BEFORE secondary school, albeit not described as such)

Mine get their news from The Week magazine.

Behave yourself.

Watch the news- no DS10 doesn’t.
He has a subscription to a weekly kid’s newspaper though. He also watches Newsround at school.

That's crazy. When I was in yr 6, we saw pictures of Ethiopian famine daily, Chernobyl and had lived through and debated the miner's strikes. We watched newsround but the six o clock news would be on after neighbours, 10yos aren't babys they need to know what is going in in the world.

I agree with this.

Also many parents are anxious themselves about the state of the world and don't want their children feeling the same way. It's hard to expose them to some news stories and not others that are very dark for a 10/11 yo.

This. I have come across many adults with very little knowledge of current including teachers in schools. This hardly leads to active discussions in class. I think it depends on families. My dps were avid readers of newspapers and this has passed down through me to my dc but some people were brought up in homes where current affairs were never discussed so its not part of their life.
At times l take a break from watching the news as l find it overwhelming and would relish some programmes with good news too.

I think your assumptions and expectations are misplaced.

We're living in the age of streaming services and intensive tutoring and extra curricular classes that are piled on. Families often don't have the time or the inclination to sit down and watch the news together - and when 'screen time' comes around, everyone has their own screen anyway, and parents stream music they like in the car.

Family life is pressured, family time is precious; parents don't want to spend it staring at misery on a screen. Media is fragmented; everyone has choices now.

Many parents don't want to turn on the TV in the evening and find themselves and their children faced with news of school shootings and massacres and horrific images of police beating black men to death, or apartment buildings blown to bits in Ukraine.

I think parents have become aware of the difficulties children have in processing all of this, with no contextual information and little capacity to address it from an emotional pov. Parents have become more aware of ratings for media content and understand that news also contains images and conflicts that can be too much for children.

My mental health can be a bit variable. One of the things I do if I am slipping downwards, is to tune out of the news and current affairs. It really does help! Sometimes people are not robust enough to handle all the depressing stuff.

Good, the news is depressing.

I used to have terrible anxiety from watching rolling news but thought that I would miss important information if I didnt watch it .

Until, I started working and would ask colleagues about such and such I have read or seen and they wouldn't have a clue.

They are living their best life and don't seem ignorant of major event but just not all consumed by doom news.

I have a read of Google news but no longer watch the news or buy papers.

I am that person. It’s all completely turned off. Only get snippets via what is on mumsnet.

I have two children who are about to turn 11.
News round is great and yes I would be happy for them to watch that.
Other news hell no.
I personally turned all tv and online main stream news off during covid.
So much of it is scaremongering propaganda. Slanted to put the fear of gold into you and this has really ramped up since covid.
No way would I want my child exposed to that at 10/11. They are just not old enough to process and get to grips with bad / horrific news stories are most likely not going to directly impact them. It causes anxiety for me let alone them. older kids yes fine but not age 10 for my two anyway.