Explaining election to the kids

[RandomHouseRules]

Have you talked to your kids about the election? We are quite politically interested so are talking about it a bit and my older one is taking a bit of an interest and starting to understand the concepts, but i'd like to explain more to the younger one (4yo). Any advice on how best to do this? We have been talking about blue teams and red teams but not sure we make any sense!!

[NeverEverAnythingEver]

Broomstick In our house I give the "people" the illusion of having any power at all to decide what we have for meals and then I cook whatever is good for them. I feel there's a political analogy somewhere... (Only joking. I am quite nice to the DC, really.)

[Wecks]

Mine are old enough to vote this time but have been with me to polling booth many times. I must say though when they were younger I always tried to be scrupulous about explaining the policies of both sides and not my own views.
Once they were younger teenagers I would pay devil's advocate in political discussion. Only now do I debate fully expressing my own opinions.

[redshoeblueshoe]

broomstick I like your plan

[BroomstickOfLove]

NeverEver - that's why I'm the Returning Officer. I don't get a vote, which keeps the numbers uneven. The first year, I made it too complicated and it didn't work.

[NeverEverAnythingEver]

My DC are older (late primary). I tell them what I think. And I tell them that perhaps other people think differently and they are free to find out about them. They know what other people say. It's not like everyone else did not vote Tory.

[NeverEverAnythingEver]

And Isabella .

[NeverEverAnythingEver]

Perhaps there is a politically unbiased and uncomplicated way to explain to the DC when they are upset about things being cancelled in school because the school has no money.

[peppatax]

Isabella70

I didn't say learning about the world stopped children being innocent sleepingdragons but I just don't see the point in over-explaining politics/religion/current affairs etc. to 3/4/5/6 year olds. My parents didn't and I'm not missing a foundation in being informed about current affairs - in fact I'd argue that telling your 8 year old that the Tories are the reason the school can't buy new papers or scissors is a far more damaging approach as you are inherently biasing him at a young age.

[Isabella70]

Well, when a man and a woman love each other very much sometimes the man gets a warm feeling in his tummy…

Oh you wrote 'elections'.

[sleepingdragons]

peppatax because it's interesting? Because they enjoy learning about the world and - when they're small - especially about what mummy's doing. Because it's a good basis for exploring ideas like how we make decisions and cooperation, in an age appropriate way. Because it lays the foundations for being informed about current affairs when they're older.

How does learning about the world stop children being "innocent"? What a bizarre idea!

[peppatax]

Wow, never even thought about telling DC this unless they specifically asked. It's one thing telling slightly older children (>7) about these things but why on earth would younger children need to know? Just let them be children and live in blissful ignorance of real life for a few years!!

[NeverEverAnythingEver]

Broomstick What if there is the same number of votes for each dinner? >

[BroomstickOfLove]

i am probably outing myself to anyone who knows me in real life, but we have a dinner election. I make ballot papers offering a choice of fun dinners (it was pizza or fish and chips for the Brexit referendum) and they go into a little booth to fill in the ballot and they post it into the ballot box. I am the returning officer who counts up the votes and announces the dinner result.

[MinkowskisButterfly]

I took her to the polling station with me for the locals and her current (100+ times per day) phrase is "watcha doin' Mummy?" So answered similar to tldr - but she is only two! Not a lot of explanation is required yet!

[redshoeblueshoe]

I'm going to follow Ludo - unicorns yay

[scaryclown]

I say 'if you want to be rich, you vote Conservative, and really really wish that by doing so, somehow a rich posh uncle will materialise and give you some land and a time machine so you can say you went to public school'
If you want people who work for nothing so that companies can be rich, to at least have a house and food and basic clothes so they can at least stay alive, vote Labour
If you want nothing to happen ever, vote for the greens, liberals, monster raving loony party, or UKIP. They'll never win, and they'll never do anything they would like to do because they will never have any power.

When they get older I explain that sometimes a small party might keep the party you don't want out of an area and so you might want to vote for them to make sure the one out of labour or conservative you don't like finds it harder to win, but if that candidate wins they will have no influence other than damaging the party you don't want.

[sleepingdragons]

My 8 year old was outrages by the Tory leaflet!
I can't remember what it said but he was having none of it

[WidowWadman]

Our kids have always come along to go voting with us. My 8 year old is studying election leaflets that come through the door with interest and asks questions, my 6 year old doesn't really pay much attention yet.

[sleepingdragons]

quizqueen that's all very well, but we've gone beyond the point of different people have different ideas about what they consider is best for our country IMO.

When the policies of one of the parties are having such a negative impact on my DC's current school experience - not to mention the potential impact on his future (can I expect to be able to afford uni if the Tories stay in power? I doubt it).
then I think they have a right to know who's doing it to them.

[sleepingdragons]

I explain to my 8 year old that we're voting for who gets to run the country and the Tories are the reason his school have had to cancel his extra maths classes and they have no money to buy new paper and scissors.

Not sure what I'll say to my 4yo, it hasn't come up yet. Probably something simple about red blue and yellow teams and choosing who gets to make the decisions.

[HeyHoThereYouGo657]

Why would you need to explain to a 3 year old for gods sakes ?!?!

[ludothedog]

DD is 7 so can handle a little bit more of an explanation:
Conservative - Blue: takes care of the money
Labour - Red: takes care of everybody
SNP: Wants Scotland to be an independent country
Green: takes care of the planet and the animals

So far she is going for the Greens who look after puppies, kittens, unicorns and fairies. Seems fair enough to me! However she likes Theresa May cause she's a woman and doesn't like Trump because his name means farts. Seems fair enough to me!

[Cherryflamingo]

Don't be ridiculous quizqueen. Suggesting to a child that not many people vote for UKIP is hardly indoctrination, it's a fact. Remind me how many MPs they have again?

[quizqueen]

So indoctrination starts at a very young age in your house, whizzlepuff. How about saying that different people have different ideas about what they consider is best for our country and when she is older she can listen to all the arguments and make up her own mind and that is called democracy!