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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think an eight year old child should know who the Prime Minister is?

154 replies

Proudnscary · 31/10/2011 07:34

My (lovely and intelligent) niece didn't know. She also didn't know who the President of Yanksville was. I think it matters even if David Cameron is a foppish twat of the highest order and Obama is all style and little substance.

I think (especially in this world of X Factor et al) dc should be be educated in the very basics of politics even if it's just identifying world rulers and broadly what they stand for.

OP posts:
DoMeDon · 31/10/2011 08:26

YABU- there is little they 'should' know. DSD would not have clue and is same age. 2 yo DD assures me she knows but when pressed for a name I get 'erm' - think she's bullshitting me Wink

MissPB · 31/10/2011 08:29

YANBU I think that children should be told these things - all part of life's rich tapestry. My DD (5) doesn't know the name of the PM but when we see him on television we will always point him out and his name. The other day, she actually wandered up to me and asked whether "only boys could be prime minister". Soon set her straight!

DontCallMeFrothyDragon · 31/10/2011 08:30

I think I was about 9 when I found out who the prime minister was. My family wasn't big on politics. My 24 year old DB, the other day, started ranting about our prime minister, Nick Clegg... Hmm

TheFoosa · 31/10/2011 08:30

I knew who the PM was at age, but she was the Milk Snatcher

DontCallMeFrothyDragon · 31/10/2011 08:32

On a side note, I just asked DS (3) who our Prime Minister is. He replied "I don't know. I think... I think he's in the wardrobe"

HidingInTheBathroom · 31/10/2011 08:37

I've just asked my DS 8 he said his head teacher so that will do for me Smile

Hungrydragon · 31/10/2011 08:38

Ds is 8 in regards to the prime minister he replied

David Something or other

President of the USA

No idea, isn't he the first black one though?

I could be Shock and disappointed, or just class at as the parenting equivlant of

What you don't know who the minister of international toe nails is and yet you expect the have an opinion on the state of the country?

Politics is like football you don't have to know all the players and the offside rule to know a shit game when you see one.

UABU - I shall worry about this when they are near voting age not when they are 8

SjuperWereWolef · 31/10/2011 08:39

i just asked dd - 6 - and she says thats their new topic at school and to ask her at the end of the week [hgrin]

also told her americas president is barrack obama then made her say it - it was adorable!

Fuzzywuzzywozabear · 31/10/2011 08:47

YABU

I just asked my 8 y/o and I first had to explain what the prime minister did - he still didn't know who it was

I can remember exactly when I was aware of who the PM was - it was 1979, I was 11 and it was Mrs Thatcher

Sorry, just don't see the need and like one of the other posters, my DCs don't watch x-factor either

DejaWho · 31/10/2011 09:02

I was aware of politics and the news from a very young age - it was always on in our house - but I was the child of two journalists.

Used to work in a school in Blair Country (near Sedgefield) and taught a truly exceptional little 6 year old girl (incredibly intelligent way, way beyond her years). She'd written this huge long story, and I'd jokingly said she didn't need to quite write that much until she was Prime Minister. She looked me up and down with a look of sheer disdain and replied without missing a beat, "I wouldn't want to be Tony Blair, Miss, the man's an idiot."

Mum cracked up laughing when I told her that one - mind you parents evenings with that child's parents generally involved howls of laughter whenever they saw what she'd came up with in her writing!

JennaTailor · 31/10/2011 09:15

Just asked my 8 yr old.

Our PM is David oogemobob (his new fav word when he cant remember something)

USA President is Barack Obama

SjuperWereWolef · 31/10/2011 09:24

deja that girl sounds amazing i'll bet she is PM one day [hgrin]

bradbourne · 31/10/2011 09:40

I'm truly shocked by some of these responses.

Children don't need to know the capital of the UK... or who Henry VIII was... or who Shakespeare was... or why it rains... or what chocolate is made from. They can exist without knowng any of this stuff. But I think they should know - it's about having a basic education and some general knowledge.

My 5-year-old knows that the Prime Minister is David Cameron - and that Nick Clegg "helps" him.

CurrySpice · 31/10/2011 09:40

My kids have both known from age 5ish. I really agree that it's important to engage and interest kids in politics at an early age.

I grew up in a family where political debate was part of everyday life and I can honestly say it's left a big inpression on me my whole life.

And to say politics isn't relevant to kids' lives - of course it is! Education policy, youth services etc - how are they not relevant. My kids (11 and 8) have signed the petition against the county council reducing library hours

I could also tell you what my (then) 9yo DD said in assembly when her utterly ridiculous HT announced that Thatcher was his role model Angry AngryAngryAngry

By Christ I have never been so proud of that girl :) :o :) :o

CurrySpice · 31/10/2011 09:41

Sorry about typos - typed it in a passion! Blush

DejaWho · 31/10/2011 09:46

One thing I've always been upset about is that the way my contracted work has fallen, I've never been in a school full-time when an election has fallen as I really wanted to do the whole mock election thing and bring kids into what's going on in the outside world.

Then again, as I mentioned - I'm from a fairly unusual background in that the whole family's always been caught up with politics and current affairs etc - and my degree was in politics as well.

I remember the 1983(?) General Election... I was only 5 then. My secondary school teacher refused to believe I could remember that far back but I remember being really sad that the scary woman with the funny hair had got back in again. Was also the sad kid who came back from an exchange visit to Spain and asked my mum as I got off the bus "so what happened with all those MPs threatening to rebel over Maastricht?" Yes, I was a sad child really.

choppychopster · 31/10/2011 09:48

I definitely knew when I was 7 or 8 as I remember the question coming up in a quiz in first year juniors. Think that most of the class had at least a vague idea as the teacher said she couldn't accept just Maggie as an answer.

Just asked 5yo DD (had to explain what the prime minister was first) and she didn't know but did say she'd like that job when she's grown up.

When she was 3 she used to say tell people that Gordon Brown was prime minister. She was slightly confused by it though as we had a very sad looking plastic sabre toothed tiger called Gordon Brown.

ripstheirthroatoutliveupstairs · 31/10/2011 09:54

I think YABU. My, pretty switched on 10.6 YO DD does know who Obama is but would be pretty shaky if I asked who the PM of Britain was.
In her defence, we moved back to the UK 12 weeks ago. She has never lived here before and was astonished at the NHS and free schooling.
She has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the monarchy of Thailand because that's what impacted the most on her life in the past.
I imagine she will get more interested as she gets older, I did.
FWIW, children marching with their parents and holding banners make me feel very uncomfortable. It is fine to be politically aware, but don't use them as pawns or to bolster numbers.

CurrySpice · 31/10/2011 09:56

Perhaps they don't have childacre rips

minimisschief · 31/10/2011 09:59

it really doesn't matter to an 8 year old. heck i do not even care lol

tulipgrower · 31/10/2011 10:11

I think the little British kids need to be cut some slack. The UK PM has changed so often recently it's hard to keep up, and then similar names make it even trickier.

It was much easier to remember the UK PM when I was a kid, because it was always the same woman for years and years. And she evoked strong emotions, people loved her or hated her, which helped her stick in your memory. The whole world knew who the UK PM was then. (I didn't live in the UK.) Now it's just another guy in a suit.

TheOriginalNutcracker · 31/10/2011 10:14

I couldn't care less if ds knows who the Prime Minister is tbh. At 8, i don't think he needs to know, unless he wants to.

Ghoulwithadragontattoo · 31/10/2011 10:17

Deja you and I are of an age and I too was obsessed by Maastrich etc. I think we would have got on. My job is political now though...

CurrySpice · 31/10/2011 10:22

Changed so often tulip? By my reckoning we've had 3 in the last 17 years. Hardly a merrygoround is it?

Similar names?

Tony Blair
Gordon Brown
David Cameron

I'm not seeing the similarity

And nutcracker, I wonder if you apply the same principle to other knowledge. "Oh no, my DS doesn't need to know about subtraction if he doesn't want to" or "No, my DS isn't interested in punctuation so I don't think he needs to know about it"

This is basic general knowledge about the society they live in, not quantum physics!!

pinkgirlythoughts · 31/10/2011 10:24

During the last election, it came out in conversation that my 21 year old sister was mightily confused by the whole thing, as she kept seeing this 'Gordon Brown' bloke on telly and wondering who he was. She'd thought that Tony Blair was still PM Confused

It gets worse, though. She asked why the new PM had moved into the old one's house- turned out she thought that the reason 10 Downing Street was often on TV was because it just happened to be Tony Blair's family home, and genuinely didn't know that it is always the place the PM lives whilst in office.