To think a 12 year old should know who the Prime Minister is?

[Eastie77Returns]

If you have a pre-teen, can they name the Prime Minister/President of the country they live in?

I took DD and DS on a child friendly tour of the Houses of Parliament today. I found it really disappointing that DD was a bit clueless. Couldn't name Kier Starmer, couldn't name Kemi Badenoch, didn't understand the concept of a ruling party vs a party in opposition (so thinks Labour and the Tories are both 'the government'). DS was really engaged and answered questions correctly on an interactive quiz. He is two years younger than DD. Surely a child of her age should know at least some of that stuff or am I being completely unreasonable? At her age I knew who Margaret Thatcher was, as did all of my friends.

We do talk about politics in an age appropriate way at home and I took both of them to vote with me in the general election last year, explained the process etc but obviously she didn't retain any of the information.

I think I just find it disappointing that she seems completely uninterested in what goes on in the world around her. She spent most of the tour complaining that I made her leave her mobile at home. I don't know if I'm just expecting too much.

I would expect her to know Starmer but I think that many adults wouldn’t know Badenoch. I would hazard a guess that Farage was more well known than Keir and Kemi.
If she’s on social media, what’s her feed like ? My teens aren’t massively into politics like I was at their age but they do follow some influencers who discuss the news so they have a little understanding.

My 7 and 10 year olds do because they watch newsround at school, I find them quite well informed due to that especially during the US election. We talk a bit about Gaza etc and world affairs.

Do you not have the radio on op? We always listen to lbc in the car when we are out and about...it's where my dc get most of their knowledge on current affairs. Even if you listen to music stations, they usually have a news segment

I have podcasts on all the time in the car and R4 on at home. The latter was definitely how I became interested in politics as a child, I remember hearing discussions on the radio and something obviously just sunk in. It was the only station my parents listened to. I didn’t have a phone competing for my attention though!

I think it's really sad you are disappointed in who she isn't rather than focussing on and celebrating who she is.

She'll pick up on that disappointment too, it isn't nice.

I am a voracious reader but one of my children is dyslexic and hates books. It's who she is, but she is amazing at all kinds of things that I struggle with. And I have had lots of new experiences through celebrating and enjoying her interests rather than forcing her to like mine

She isn’t allowed any SM accounts yet. She has a very basic phone (to her horror).

I mean i would expect a 12 year old to be able to name the prime minister but I wouldn't expect much knowledge past that as for most 12 year olds it's just not of interest they can't vote don't work, don't pay taxes, don't own a home it just doesn't effect them like it does adults just like i have no knowledge of pokemon or Minecraft as that doesn't interest me

To be fair Starmer is pretty forgettable.

I'd have done similar if you'd dragged me round something with my younger brother and been delighted he was being enthusiastic and answering questions.

It would have been a mixture of not wanting to be wrong and be negatively compared to younger brother, and an objection to being taken, on my holiday, round something that was clearly educational, and wasn't my interest. Plus, I am really bad at remembering names if you pounce at me with a "who is this..". I'll manage dates though. If you turned to me and asked who the leader of the opposition was with clear expectation that I would answer swiftly, then all names would go flying out of my head.

She probably knows more than you're giving her credit for.

So would I but no, I don't actually own a TV. I don't listen to the radio. I don't read news articles if I see them. Most people I talk to is about animals of some sort or another

DS14 would know what the PM is called but not much more than that. He has no interest in politics and there is no way he'd go on a tour of parliament unless forced at school.

He could however tell you who had won all of the European football leagues, who their top scorers are and what their managers are called!

My god, get that stick from up your a**e 🤣

I was in hospital recently on an over 75 ward (bed shortages) and the drs asked the other 3 ladies in their who the prime minister was along with other questions and I did have a bit of a panic if they was going to ask me as my mind went blank and I couldn't for the life of me remember his name. Thankfully they didn't ask me 🤣🤣

And sadly I think this is it. It is all a bit meh with him. Most (sadly) know Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson.

But I also think it is a curriculum issue I don’t know how much they actually learn about it in schools

I grew up in the 60s.dgp looked after me a lot.i knew who Harold wilson was at a young age.dgf had the news at 1pm 6pm and good old news at ten! I think starmer seems to be low key though.often lisa or Angela.while he lives up to the keir never here nickname 🤔

You go through them like water. I wouldn't blame her.

I find it hard to celebrate the fact she cannot name the Prime Minister. I know I should accept and champion my children, accept who they are etc but it’s how I feel.

To be honest I’m ok with her knowing I’m a bit disappointed. She’s quite competitive and definitely wasn’t impressed when I praised DS for his knowledge so I think she’ll now try to retain some of the basics.

Exactly this people have different interests and thats ok I bet op can't name all the teams who won the in the European football league's and who their managers where

YABU, thatcher was prime minister for 11 years and very easy to remember. Our kids have had 6 prime ministers in the same period of time and it's a revolving door. Also kids never hear or see the news anymore really, when we were kids it was always on.

In fairness I read Politics at uni, find current affairs very interesting and have done since I was her age so I’m perhaps projecting.

This might be your issue OP, you like and enjoy it . Maybe she doesn’t. Forcing someone to do something they don’t really like would have got my back up. I would only do your day trip if you paid me a significant amount of money.

I couldn’t care if my child knew this information or not. I definitely wouldn’t be disappointed.

Maybe that's the problem, my son has used his phone to teach himself a huge amount about current affairs (from sensible sources). He's also using it to teach himself another language, to learn to play chess, and to learn all kinds of aspects of science and history that they don't learn in the curriculum. Used wisely a phone /the internet can be a treasure trove.

I think YABU. I wish I’d had no idea who Margaret Thatcher was when I was 12.

in hindsight, ignorance would have been bliss.

<sigh>

Your DS probably had it on Newsround - Primary schools tend to do that kind of thing a little bit more

Sounds pretty normal to me. Worked with teens for many years. A common misconception was that Queen Elizabeth was married to Prince Charles and, more recently, that when the queen died, William would be king. Add typical teen rebelliousness to the mix and there you go. I wouldn’t worry about it. Your daughter sounds normal to me 😊

I’m a huge football fan so can name a few😂