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.

‘Name your country’s Prime Minister’ is not the same as expecting a deep knowledge of politics.

In all fairness, OP, you would not have scored top points on this question in a written quiz, as you spelt the PM's name incorrectly in your opening post.

I think it’s more you and DS have a shared interest in politics and so he shines compared to your DD who is plainly not at all interested.

I wouldn’t worry she couldn’t recall who is PM right now, we’ve been changing them faster than the US changes presidents.

Also she isn’t wrong that Tories and Labour are both the government as it is all the MPs in the Commons that make up the sovereign government. The ruling party is simply who has won the election and assigns MPs to cabinet positions. Laws still get voted on by all MPs of all parties.

I wouldn’t be disappointed in her either. She likely has other interests and knows stuff you don’t that she would think is very basic.

Your poor kids. Why are you even a parent if you can't relate to what a 12 year old is/isn't interested in. Mine are early 20's and in professional careers and are not interested in politics whatsoever. Be more fun.

My DS is 15 and is massively into politics. He can name every British Prime Minister going back to the 1900s (and probably more, I've never asked him). He knows every country's prime minister / president in the world. He understands politics inside out. His friends are similar.

This is the saddest thing I’ve read in a while.
Your poor daughter.

It isn’t about being more fun or being interested in the details of politics. I would say itv should be fairly basic general knowledge. Surely they hear the news even if it’s on the radio, it must be mentioned in school and as a parent I feel it’s my responsibility to make sure my kids have a slightly broader knowledge than TikTok, Roblox and football

OP hear me out on this one...

Politics seems quite important to you as in you pride yourself on being up to date on current affairs, the news agenda etc.

Do you think maybe, just maybe, your child is well aware who the PM is but perhaps doing it to get a rise out of you... or even establish their own identity away from what mum likes?

I remember being very contrary about art (which my family was/is mad about) at your daughter's age.

And sorry havent rtft

We talk about politics a lot at home and involve the kids in these chats at dinner - more so during elections etc. My teens can name the prime minister and kemi and farage. The 16yo also knows Rachel Reeves lol. They also know Donald Trump and JD Vance, Putin, And Zelenskyy. Just asked my 7yo and she knew the US president was Donald Trump and when I said who is our prime minister she said it was Boris Johnson once but I can’t remember the new man’s name. When I said Keir Starmer she was like oh yes so she is taking things in already and they do watch news round at school as well.

However, your DD is not alone my 13yo had a friend over and she didn’t know who the prime minister was either and seemingly no interest in current affairs. So it’s probably not unusual for your dd to not know/be interested, especially if she’s not on social media - not necessarily a bad thing as mine seem to end up seeing a lot of farage nonsense on tiktok!

Yes, would definitely recommend particularly if you are interested in seeing what goes on behind the scenes. The ticket includes an audio tour so you can do it at your own pace or you can book a guided tour which seemed to be a popular option. There is a child friendly audio tour as well. A bit disappointed you cannot take pictures inside the main bits (although I got a sneaky one of DS in the House of Commons)

Surely you can be aware of who the Prime Minister is but not be exposed to news about stabbings. I can’t see the link between the two.

Because it’s all negative conflict and doom and gloom.

politicians slagging each other off, complaining about what’s wrong with the country etc I don’t want my children worried about the country we live in

Why would you be aware? Politicians get mentioned on the news. If you avoid the doom mongering broadcasts on the hour, every hour, you’ve no reason to hear about t politicians at all.

I can remember a time when I used to get confused and think the Conservatives and the Tories were 2 different parties, but I was younger than the daughter in this post (primary school age). If someone had asked me who the prime minister was when I was in primary school, I could have told them the right name (would have been Margaret Thatcher until I was 8).

Niece #1's concept of politics, aged about 6, was "Bojo saying blah blah blah on the telly" (this was 2021; she'd been used to seeing the Covid press conferences and they became Bojo's blah blah blah in her mind).

A few years ago on here, during May's time as Prime Minister, a reasonably prolific poster was surprised to learn that Gordon Brown was no longer in Number 10. She had apparently missed Cameron's six years, and the rather important debate and event just before he resigned. Some people just let current events completely pass them by.

Badenoch?

Mine know the basics,my 8 yr old does a fab impression of Trump,complete with the tiny hands gesturing 😁

I used to read my dad’s Guardian every day at 12 so was pretty well informed. No one really gets a newspaper any more so I guess there’s less news “lying around”. Could you get her to follow some news stuff on Tik Tok or something similar?

Schools don’t teach this. So really this is your and your oh fault

I don't know how a child of 12 could fail to know who the PM is. I suppose we live in a different world now. I remember Thatcher became leader of the Tories in 1975. I was 9 and never lived in the UK, but it was impossible not to know as it was all over the news.

Having said all that, I'm amazed at some of the things that were on the news that didn't register with me at all. I don't remember the end of the Vietnam war, for example, yet I do remember Nixon visiting China three years before. I remember the invasion of Cyprus, but I don't remember Watergate or the Munich Olympics massacre.

The prime minister has changed rather a lot in the past few years, not to mention the chancellor of the exchequer and other key positions, even though the party in government didn't change and there has been loads of unneccessary political instability caused by Brexit and Conservative infighting and incompetence. I'm not surprised they can't keep up, it has been a very confusing and unstable time for the country and most of it completely unnecessary.

Same.
Will check with mine on their knowledge later and report back!

I avoid the news as much as possible, or I'd be very depressed. Can't see why a 12 year shouldn't be allowed to believe for just a little longer that we aren't living an absolute clusterfuck on a global scale.

Precisely!