Obama wins: How do you explain this day to your children?

[morningpaper]

How are you explaining the news to your children?

Do you mention race and if so, how?

I think its about more then just America. If America has come this far and can elect a black president then I think it shows that the world does change and gives hope to many people

even if politically things change not one iota (and i believe they will) the fact that the most powerful man in the world is of colour is a HUGE and important thing. it affects all of us.

i HATED maggie thatcher, but the fact that she was a female prime minister and had a world profile was hugely important for women all over the world. it says: you can do this if you want to and you could do it differently. the door is not closed to you.

Race is only an issue beecause the press constantly refer to him as the first black president. Surely it is more progressive to refer to other aspects of his strengths and character. Apart from him being the first black presidential candidate, surely some people voted on the issues too, or am I being stupidly naive?
My 7 yo doesn't see colour at all, just a new president. i personally wouldn't dream of refering to him as the first black president because that is raising an issue in her own mind that needn't ever carry any relevance. Or am i again being super naive.
I would rather her understand the significance to the rest of the world that the US has a new president than a first black president.

yes i don't feel the need to explain the race issue to ds, 4, yet. He has no awareness that anyone makes a differentiation between skin colours. I will in time.

dd said to me this morning
Mummy I thought you wanted him to win, why are you crying

We explained the significance of a black president to her last week. That many years ago people with white skin wrongly believed that people with black skin were not as good as them and that their children were made to go to different school, they had to sit on different parts of the bus etc. We told her about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King etc.

Sophable re not wanting them to "see" the skin colour thing - tbh I think she sees it as something odd that happened in the olden days rather than an issue now. We also explained for eg that in olden days women couldn't vote etc (to which she said "what, not even on Strictly come dancing ) and as far as she is aware that all these things are in the past. If you present it to littlies as historical fact rather than an issue as such I think it won't make them feel any differently (maybe?)

btw
she was gobsmacked
in a "weren't people in the olden days mad" way

"What, not even on Strictly Come Dancing?"

ROFL! Yes, the world was mad indeed!

The point about them perceiving it as historical is interesting - maybe that is a clue as to when the right time is to raise it with young children (assuming circumstances don't force it on you sooner) - when you are sure they have a sense of history....

I told dd 7 it was a historic day and then dh started telling dd about Obama, working so hard to get to be president of the U.S ... dd wanted to know what happened to the woman who wanted to be president, so an interested 7 year old, but she obviously would rather America had a female black president... it might happen one day.

Told DD that Barack Obama had won and she said...............

"Oooooooh so now there is a brown man in the White House"

Then sniggered and said..............

"Brown man, white house, get it?"

So I just dished up breakfast and continued emptying the dishwasher!

she is 7 yrs, not my 7th dd.

Mine were pleased there would be a new puppy in the white house!

Yes, dd is just 6 and very into history atm
I got a blow by blow account of Guy Fawkes and his naughtiness last night!

We had a great talk this morning - after I had cleared up his confusion that no, Lewis Hamilton wasn't the new president...

Just reading back Countess my kids deal with racism every day. We have lived in a community with more Asians than white people and now live in a farming community where the kids are scandalised by some of the racist comments which their peers come out with.

I dont think it is olden days at all and is a reality which many kids simply do not grasp. The problem with not acknowledging it drivinme is that some children will then not recognise it when it happens.

I talked about it to ds(7) on the walk to school. They talked about segregation in assemblies last year so it was easy to get across some of the significance of it.

I was happy this morning as there is a Democrat elected, and the majority of the House of Reps and Senate is Democrat.

If Obama ratifies Kyoto and signs the ban on intelligent sub-munitions (intelligent bombs that keep going and lock onto another target after they have lost the initial one, thus increasing the numbers of civvy victims) then I'll wave my flag. I'm with Kerrymum on this - the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

I did feel misty eyes when I saw Jesse Jackson, and all those brave civil rights campaigners, so I do know where you are coming from - it's the same feeling I suppose the Irish felt when JF Kennedy was elected.

Personally I think they should have selected Hilary Clinton as Democrat candidate. As a woman she represents 51% of the population and gender discrimination is a more important issue to me than the colour of someones' skin. But then I'm Irish and have been refused entry into places in the UK because of my race, (I have light brown coloured skin) and been subject to vile bullying and name calling, and totally inhuman strip searches when traveling (especially after any Mainland UK bombing campaigns carried out by the IRA). However, I've had much worse and systemic discrimination on the basis of gender in many countries. Women are still paid a lower percentage of men's pay for similar jobs done worldwide.

My DD who is 4 told me that "John was too old, that's why Barack won" this morning, now should I suggest that ageism is wrong to her, and that people shouldn't retire if they feel they still have a contribution to make?

We chose our DD's school as it is the most multicultural school in our area. She has classmates from Africa, India, Ireland, Spain, America, Italy, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand... etc.. she's colour blind, but knows the world is big and there's room for all.

I just hope Obama really does mean change, and the Democrats get down to work asap for everybody, young, old, black, white, women and men.

'Europe is further ahead with racial equality'
Can you imagine BritaIN, or france, Germany or Spain, electing a black leader yet?

We have been following the campaign for the last few months, ds1(10) and ds2(8) and I often talk about politics on the way to school. We have talked about race, discrimination, the civil rights movement and how that all relates to Obama.

The ds's were so into the campaign that ds2 is the 'election correspondent' in his class, and has been relating all the news every morning for the last week or so. Both were very excited going to bed last night. I stayed up all night and was so tempted to get everyone up for the victory speech. I watched it in tears myself at 5am, then youtubed it this morning and we watched it together.

I think this is a HUGE moment for the world, and I hope the ds's think that too. As a lifelong idealist in a sea of cynicism, I feel vindicated today. {smile]

oh gf I know it isn't really in the past

But she is just 6 and as far as she is concerned colour of skin is not an issue. This is how I would like her to grow up feeling. That is obviously not to say that racism doesn't exist today - I am confident that if she encountered it she would be appalled and I think that maybe it is more powerful and meaningful for her to know that it makes no difference and to fight her own battles over it because she wants to and knows it is right than for me to tell her, aged 6, that some people get abused for the colour of their skin and it is wrong and that she should enforce that. She knows that is wrong. She is too young to understand what it means in practise though.

I'm with zazen, i was for Barack becasue of what hopefully will be his policies, and it was a collateral benefit that his father was Kenyan and what a great thing that would be for Africa which could use a break. I won't be making a big deal of his race to the children (4 and 2) until they're older.

The Headmaster of dts school came out to the playground this morning while they were lining up and made note that this was a historical day without mentioning race.

I think after Bush anything has to be good but I hope people won't criticise when Obama fails to turn water into wine. He has a lot to do and has already started in repairing America's image.

That is what I will explain to dts.

Plus my best friend lives in Chicago (where she is from) and was there last night - she is sending photos and newspapers for dts to take into school with them, also to keep. They are nearly 7, but I bet they will remember this.

DS is very interested he is 11 and has been doing some homework about the election ,so this morning when he got up he was pleased that Obama had won .

I just said to him it would be something to tell his grandchildren about .

I told dds the story of rosa lee parks and not giving up her seat on the bus, and how far the country has come,

Dd (9 years old) was delighted that Obama won (as are we), but mostly because he reads Harry Potter to his daughter (who dd thinks looks cool)....
We did talk about the race issue as it does matter in this context, and I'm hoping they will discuss the election in their 'current affairs' lesson at school tomorrow.