Explaining the news to kids

[alexgifford]

Hi all,
I have an 7 yr old, 5 yr old and 2 yr old. I'm not quite sure where or how this interest has come from in recent weeks, but my two eldest have begun to take an interest in the news - which is great!

But I'm not quite sure how to channel this. A few weeks back it was the Brand story, before that it was War in Ukraine, and day after day we hear these tragic stories. All very important journalism I should say, and stories I'm personally keen to keep up to date on.

It's just I'm not sure if they're necessarily stories I want my children being exposed to at this point in their lives. I do not want to shelter them from the harsh realities of life, but I do want to introduce them to stories and news that have real importance to us all, but that are easier for them to understand, and easy for me to explain!!

I'm totally unprepared for what will happen when they do finally enter the world of social media, and frankly part of my anxiety stems from the fact that they will very soon be getting news from a variety of sources, many unverified.

So my question to you all is, how do you explain the news to your children? Curious to see how this differs at different age groups.

A friend told me about a site called The Passdown that I'll look at, but any child friendly newspaper recommendations would be most appreciated.

CBBC newsround is good

My kids watch cbbc newsround in school so might be coming from that. I’m just fairly honest but try to keep it general/ child friendly.

It’s actually a really good way of teaching them reasoned thinking and debate. Horrible histories is also a fab resource.

Newsround is not good, unless you are teaching kids what government propaganda looks like.

I used to get The Week Junior for my kids when they were younger, admittedly a bit older than your DC. It covers a lot of news stories in very simple terms so even if they didn't read it, it might give you some ideas of how to convey some of the more complex issues to them in a child-friendly way.

Sky news do a children’s segment I think it’s called FYI.

i think the important thing is to watch the news together and discuss things, let them know it’s ok to have questions and learn how to research them. Maybe as they get older encourage them to think of the validity of what they are watching/reading or other perspective - critical thinking and analysis is important. I also make it clear to DS that having a different opinion to me is fine.

This although can be a bit difficult to find The Week Jr in shops. DD also watches newsround at school.

I think more importantly, DH and I will discuss news stories while DD is present, keeping it appropriate for her age of course, and we always have done.

You can get The Week Junior on subscription and they usually do a good starting offer.