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

[Proudnscary]

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.

Curry...an interest in politics local to them is different. My 8 year old is already involved in his local council. He is running a campaign for road safety, and our library won't be closed as he and others are members of of our library group set up a long time earlier to ensure our local library becomes indispensable.

He has knowledge, and intelligence of his role in his community, ergo his grounding for the future. But to judge a childs intelligence purely on whether they know the PMs name or particularly the president of the USA is imo unfair. Any why America? Why not China, Japan or Columbia?

I'd rather ds said David oogemobob and had his passion, than a child who could list the entire cabinet.

I should add, she's by no means stupid, either. Just incredibly unaware politically.

Curry you just said you don't care if they know the capital of England, are you saying Geography is less important than maths or politics?

Pinky, sorry, she sounds rather stupid. Being 'political unaware' might be political correct way of putting it.

At the age of 21, can she find Britain on a map, or is she 'geographical unaware' too? :)

YANBU

Totally agree with Curry, btw

Good for him dragon :o

Although I disagree that national politics is "different". National policies affect him and us just as much (far more?) than local ones.

And I shouldn't be too confident about your library. It seems nothing and nobody is indispensible :(

We have had a very significant local issue where we live which has been all over the national press (the travellers at Dale Farm) and the DDs have both been very interested in that - it's all part of taking an interest in what's happening around them

And as for world issues, I would expect them to know a little of what's happening in the world eg the floods in Thailand, the new President in Ireland ( which sparked a conversation about monarchy v presidency) or the earthquake in Turkey.

YY Curry and Dragon - interest in politics comes from getting involved in local issues that impact DCs, rather than being able to name an individual. My DS is all over a very local issue (can't say for fear of outing) and has been on a demo and written a letter [proud] - time enough for him to understand structures and names, I'd rather he understood that decisions are made by people who show up for now.

FWIW I was rabidly political as a child (and also good at general knowledge come to think of it) but the general knowledge came through reading and the politics didn't come till High School.

DS (8) didn't know, despite constant flow of Radio 4. He did, however, know who Gaddafi was, that he had been killed, that Libya was in 'the Middle East', and that 'some bad guy' was the president of 'Assyria' (clearly centuries off there, but I was impressed). Also knew a fair bit about the Arab Spring and Egypt. And Somali pirates... that had really sunk in! (He was disappointed that they didn't have big pirate ships.)

So... I think that unless you have specifically taught them about politics, it's unlikely to be what they take away from watching or listening to the news. Because the mention of David Cameron's name on the radio is followed by this: "Blah blah blah, blah, blah blah, blah blah blah..." It's not very exciting.

Somali pirates on the other hand are inherently very interesting.

In short, I think you're asking the wrong question. Ask them, open-ended, if they know what's going on in the world. See what they're picking up. Even if they can't name the current PM, they may well have a good grasp of world affairs.

at the pirate ships drama!

Curry .... if they do the councils lose half their office space and the jobcentre

Oh, and wierdly, he was able to name Obama. I guess Davie is just super forgettable.

Well round here the job centres are all closing and they are making council staff redundant at a rate of knotts so..

But I hope your library stays open. Ours has but with reduced hours so it is closed now at precisely the time we went every week (between brownies and guides) :(

Wison... he demanded to be shown Somalia on a map so that he wouldn't wander too close!

By 8 yrs she should know-I would say from my experience as a supply teacher that the majority of 8yr olds know.

YANBU - of course they should know by that age. I am not suggesting they should be politically active but of course they should have basic knowledge of the world they live in. Am shocked that people think its ok for them not to know basic facts at that age

4yo DD knows who the PM is. Largely because I've trained her to spit everytime she sees him on the television. She knows if he ever turns up in person to scream 'aaaargh apocalypse', cross herself three times and run the fuck away.

She does think the capital of England is E though.

Alright Flatbread she is rather stupid, I just felt a bit sorry for her after typing that and then re-reading it :)

She has a lot of common sense, and she's the kind of person who always knows what to do in a crisis, but she really doesn't pay much attention at all to the world around her!

Oh hell yes - pirates are much more exciting sounding than tax policy :o

Missed some commas out there- should have put: Alright, flatbread, she is rather stupid. It comes across quite aggressively when you read it without commas in, and I didn't mean it to be!

Will ask ds later but I'm with juule. No need .
Having much older kids you'd be shocked that an awful lot of normal 17 year old girls know nothing of current affairs. That's what matters not 8 year olds who should be being kids anyway

I agree with catgirl and if you find out they don't you should be doing something about their basic general knowledge.

We definitely gave a duty to involve young people in politics. While I'm not suggesting everyone takes their 8yo off to London for a political day out, but did you know that everyone is entitled to write to their MP and ask for a tour of the Houses of Parliament? DH's uncle and his wife took his very disinterested 17yo son around a few years ago with their local MP and afterwards he commented that he couldn't wait to turn 18 so that he could vote.

I've taken the kids with me to vote since they were babies.

curryspice - compared to Thatcher the last 2 haven't been around long. And I think the names are bland, don't stand out. Also the men themselves don't stand out, aren't unusual, compared to Berlusconi's antics, Obamas "yes, we can", Putins hard line, ...

Being bland doesn't make for a worse politician, but it does make it harder to remember them.

That said, I think it is important that kids are familiar with the concept of diferent countries, different forms of government, heads of state, especially of their own country. And I think it is up to parents to talk about it. Fortunately
Queen Elizabeth Ii is very easy to remember, especially for kids.