To wish my DCs' primary school would stop putting on Newsround every day?

[minkfondant]

Every class at my DCs' school seems to watch Newsround on a daily basis. Today my 8yo came home excitedly saying "A taxi blew up! It was so cool."

On previous occasions, they've come home telling me about things like George Floyd's murder including graphic details of how he was killed and North Korea possibly having nuclear weapons. 10yo asked if I think we'll have WW3 caused by North Korea.

We deliberately avoid watching news with them around, because so much of it is alarming for people who haven't yet got adult perspective on things. News TV is deliberately curated to make it as arresting and attention-grabbing as possible, and obviously concentrates more on the bad stuff than anything else.

Can't they just have a childhood before they're confronted with the dark sides of human nature?

AIBU to wish the school would leave Newsround out of the lesson plans?

I'm sure newsround explain it all in an age appropriate way though?

Newsround is literally designed to present the news to children. It doesn’t do any of what you’re suggesting TV news does.

But Newsround is specifically for children?

Newsround is ideal for KS2 & 3 children to learn about current events in an age appropriate way.
Better for them to see what actually happened than get snippets of playground gossip, talk radio, adult discussion.

You can’t protect them from hearing about news.

News round has always told news in sensitive way. I guess these days it is far harder hid the world from kids. Maybe better they use it to talk about the world and stop anxiety or fake stories around covid or any number of things.

The taxi being blown up story would still been in the playground this way they are least get the facts.

As others have said - News round is specifically for children though?

'What age group is Newsround aimed at?
Newsround has a target audience of 6 to 12-year-olds and the stories and language used in our bulletins reflects that.
We try to pick stories that will appeal to our viewers - and we try to bring a child's view into our reports. Our team is a mix of child experts, journalists and teachers.'

As pop's have said, Newsround is tailor made to present news to children. It isn't gratuitous.

I'm of the camp that actually, if children do happen across challenging news stories it's OK to discuss that in an age appropriate way. The world isn't all unicorns and mermaids.

1. Newsround is for kids 2) your kids seem engaged and not currently disturbed.

8 and 10 is old enough to start learning about the world in n age appropriate way. If your 10 year old thinks that taxis blowing up is "cool" it sounds like he could do with a little more exposure to real life, not less.

It's how every day at my DC school ends, they sit and watch newsround. As did my eldest DD who is now at secondary. Newsround has been delivered for children for years, and although I'm not sure what the target age range is, neither of mine have any long-term scars from watching it. If anything it encourages current affairs discussion, which I think are important even if we don't know the reason why things have happened - like in the case of the Liverpool bombing.

My dc have this at school too and they love it, and I love that they love it! They're really engaged with the world and are forming opinions. I would not be happy if they thought a bombed taxi was cool!!

P.s. As I recall, the evidence base is that frankly discussing the darker sides of the adult world, as they come up, is better than hiding it from them. They can generally cope quite well, whereas hiding these things inculcates them with the message they can't handle them, which feeds anxiety.

Newsround is designed to deal with things in an age appropriate way.

Children aren’t daft and hiding them from the world does them no good, they will still pick up on things anyway and not be able to understand them.

An environment whereby things going on in the world are discussed is much better and makes it much easier to tackle questions as they come up.

Children need appropriate exposure to the world and to news events. If your child said that, i presume you explained why it’s not? My kids watch the adult news regularly and would never come out with something like that.

I think it is unhealthy to try to bring kids up thinking everything is fine when it isn't.

What age are you suggesting we should drop the bombshell of climate change, institutional racist, wars, terrorism etc?

Better to tell dc the truth, albeit in a sensitive and age appropriate way (as newsround does).

Newsround isn’t remotely the same as “news TV” for adults though.

Leaving aside whether it’s great for television to be used in the classroom as much as it is — I have no issue with children seeing Newsround. I sometimes turn to it myself to help work out how to discuss big news stories in a child-appropriate way. It can be really valuable for that.

School-age dc will hear about these things somewhere and you’re not helping them by avoiding one of the only carefully thought out news programmes designed for their age group.

Children are fairly removed from mortality, their own and other people's.
They won't emotionally link a car exploding to grief, it's not that visceral for them. It just 'looked cool' to them.

FFS.

A child who is right slap bang in the middle of the right age group for the sanitised, child-friendly news of Newsround, shouldn't be shown it because... their mum wants them to "have a childhood".

Jeezo. What is wrong with some people? What else do you object to, OP? Obviously he shouldn't be learning about Henry VIII chopping his wives' heads off. Or Egyptian mummies and how they prepared the bodies. Or the Vikings and their raping and pillaging. Or WW1/2 or Poppy Day, what with it being war and death and all. Let's make ALL Primary school about unicorns and rainbows and sunshine.

Here is the Newsround coverage of the Liverpool terror incident.

www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/59209137

It's not sensationalist in the way you describe.

I think it’s great that schools do this.

(I speak on this thread as someone who has explained the Holocaust to my 6yo, to the best of my ability. He took it fine.)

10 is old enough to be eased into an understanding of the things that are going on in the world, and that is what News round is for.

I think it’s absolutely great the school is showing them Newsround. Kids pick up on stuff anyway, far better to have it explained to them in a non-sensationalist way that they will understand. YABU. Be glad the school is doing this for you as you’re clearly unwilling.

They do this at my daughters school too. I think it's great for them to have the news explained in an age appropriate way