Politicising our children.

So do you agree that children being told to keep things secret from their parents is unacceptable?

Mollygo

Glorianny

I think one of the saddest things is when a child sees something they know they really shouldn't have been looking at, it disturbs them, but they are unable to talk to their family because they are not supposed to know anything.

Sorry for commenting on your posts again Gloriangry, but your most telling phrase above is
^ when a child sees something they know they really shouldn't have been looking at it disturbs them^

It is sad, but under those circumstances, it’s quite possibly the guilt that stops them talking, rather than the subject matter.

That’s different from the politicising of children that started this discussion, the difficulties of giving totally unbiased information to children in school or the use of children by their parents to promote the parents’ viewpoints.

However, in today’s world, children are being actively discouraged from talking to their parents about certain things by some groups, and that’s even more disturbing.

Of course it's probably guilt. But it stems from this concept that a GC doesn't watch things, hasn't access to social media and therefore doesn't know what's going on, which some on GN seem to think is a desirable state. Now it may seem wonderful, but it can be the basis of distress for the child when they do find out things.
Children usually know far more than the adults around them imagine.

Glorianny

I think one of the saddest things is when a child sees something they know they really shouldn't have been looking at, it disturbs them, but they are unable to talk to their family because they are not supposed to know anything.

Sorry for commenting on your posts again Gloriangry, but your most telling phrase above is
^ when a child sees something they know they really shouldn't have been looking at it disturbs them^

It is sad, but under those circumstances, it’s quite possibly the guilt that stops them talking, rather than the subject matter.

That’s different from the politicising of children that started this discussion, the difficulties of giving totally unbiased information to children in school or the use of children by their parents to promote the parents’ viewpoints.

However, in today’s world, children are being actively discouraged from talking to their parents about certain things by some groups, and that’s even more disturbing.

Interesting post, icanhandthemback, and a tricky one for you to observe.
I think it works both ways. Without using too strong words, I believe there would be an element of emotional abuse in not giving a child the opportunity to experiment and to express their views. Nobody is suggesting we should ignore or silence them.
But young children also need protecting, and I can equally see emotional abuse occurring when children are subjected to participating in something beyond their developmental capabilities.

Of course, in schools we are fortunate to have age appropriate spiritual and moral development policies as to what is deemed acceptable. Teachers adhere to the rules set down, and shouldn't start inventing their own agenda within the curriculum.
Obviously, in the home environment parents can make their own judgment.

My granddaughter is being taken out on marches and her views on politics are being boasted about by my daughter in law. I want to say that she doesn't really have views, she has YOUR views when I hear her but I know it will just cause a storm so I keep schtum. I occasionally point out in a mild mannered way that not every feels the same way when she is waxing lyrical at the grand old age of 8!
When I was her age, my Nan used to tell me nice little girls didn't read newspapers but I think she was trying to protect me from the nasties of the word. I think as a parent you should be trying to instil values into a child about caring and sharing rather than politicising them.

I think one of the saddest things is when a child sees something they know they really shouldn't have been looking at, it disturbs them, but they are unable to talk to their family because they are not supposed to know anything.

Curtaintwitcher

Quite apart from what is taught in schools, surely children are sitting at home when parents are watching the news. It's natural for them to ask questions, and it's up to their parents to give answers.
I think the home environment has more impact on children than school, so it's important for parents to be very careful what they say on all issues, not just the political.

Last week I watched my DGD reading what her dad was typing into a work email on his phone, while they were sat together on the sofa. She is 7, reads everything.
Are other grans telling me that if he'd been on social media, she couldn't have seen some of the awful things from Gaza. Bombed buildings could be perhaps explained away, but this month has had dreadful photos of dead children in their parents arms.

I first read the title as " Polarising our children", and I would have agreed that polarising them would be completely wrong. Adults very easily become polarised, and anyone with any influence over young people should be trying to teach them to see both sides in any situation and make a fair decision on what they personally think feel about it.

If "politicising them" means letting them be aware of what is going on in the wider world around them, then I would say that it is impossible to prevent them from that. The media and people around them are always talking about international friction, bad decisions by national and foreign leaders, natural disasters that need co-operation to deal with, and horrific crimes and accidents and their consequences. Adults should be concerned to stop that knowledge becoming polarisation.

Children are raised by parents, those parents may have completely different views. So you could have in a class children who have been taken on marches. These could be pro-Gaza marches or even very right wing marches. If those children bring those views into the classroom you have no choice but to tackle the issue. Racism isn't tolerated and teachers are trained to deal with it and report it. Politics is in the classroom. If children come in with concepts about striking or disrupting school the teacher's job is to try and modify that behaviour and they can best do so by giving alternative methods of protest and action.

Reading through posts up thread,as pinpointed by Dinahmo, I wouldn't see Taylor Swift as a particularly bad image for youngsters to emulate, I was puzzled by that, her looks appear quite natural to me, she's slim but not anorexic particularly in this day and age where so many high profile women have had so many surgical procedures, superficially she doesn't appear to be one.

I do remember my son being at senior school during the invasion of Iraq when he and his peer group were very much against that, went off to a protest or two at the week ends and wanted to discuss all of that at school. The teachers absolutely refused any such debate, at the time I thought that they could suspend the set in stone curriculum to allow some time to do that. In retrospect I think they were right in not doing so, I think teachers should where pupils are concerned take a non partisan stance nor seek to imbue them with their own political point of view.

Exactly Sago. At that age I was not allowed to listen to the news or even read a newspaper, and my parents certainly didn’t discuss potentially upsetting world events in my presence.

Curtaintwitcher

Quite apart from what is taught in schools, surely children are sitting at home when parents are watching the news. It's natural for them to ask questions, and it's up to their parents to give answers.
I think the home environment has more impact on children than school, so it's important for parents to be very careful what they say on all issues, not just the political.

My 9 year old GD does not watch the news with her parents she is in bed at that time,I would not expect a child of that age to be interested.
Unfortunately in our neighbourhood it seems many parents are angry that their children are not allowed to take flags to school and to discuss this in the playground.
Thy are forcing the cause on their children.
I find it very hard to believe this is driven by the children and not the parents.

There is absolutely no place for politics in primary school.

It should be a time of fun, learning through activities, projects etc, discovering what you like and dislike along with making friends.

Thank you M0nica for explaining. My concern is within the school environment because that is what Sago was referring to with the child striking and protesting at school. Also the flag waving at school.

Quite apart from what is taught in schools, surely children are sitting at home when parents are watching the news. It's natural for them to ask questions, and it's up to their parents to give answers.
I think the home environment has more impact on children than school, so it's important for parents to be very careful what they say on all issues, not just the political.

Joseann When I said 9 year olds could certainly know about rape (even if they were not quite sure what it meant) and the dismembering of babies.

I was not referring to anything to do with schools or education. I was talking about what will be in the general knowledge of some/many 9 year olds. I was 9 in 1953 and living in Hong Kong, when the victims ofthe worst excesses of Mao Tse Tungs's China came over the border from mainland China daily and what the stories of the sufferings and torture they ahd undergone was the regular reporting in the papers. I knew all the terrible things going on.

At 10 we had moved to Singapore where the papers were serialising stories of the Japanese POWs, men, women and children.

Nothing to do with school or teaching, just part of my general knowledge gleaned from other sources.

Mollygo

AmberSpyglass

What about the children in Gaza? Are they old enough to know what’s happening?

The same way as children here “knew what was happening” in WWII.
Their view will be coloured by what’s happening to them. I very much doubt if those who are suffering are giving any coherent or unbiased view of the reason the other side are attacking them.
And as has been said, they are not the subject here.

DH has memories of WW2 which are those of a child with a child's perspective.

AmberSpyglass

What about the children in Gaza? Are they old enough to know what’s happening?

The same way as children here “knew what was happening” in WWII.
Their view will be coloured by what’s happening to them. I very much doubt if those who are suffering are giving any coherent or unbiased view of the reason the other side are attacking them.
And as has been said, they are not the subject here.

welbeck

the idea that children will know nothing about a big news topic if they have no devices/newspapers seems naive to me.

I’m in New Zealand at the moment and my grandchildren here have absolutely no knowledge of what’s going on in Israel. So not naive, simply true. And I’m thankful for that too.

The children of Gaza are not the subject here and would merit a completely different thread.

What about the children in Gaza? Are they old enough to know what’s happening?

Children pick up knowledge from all sorts of places and sometimes without any input from their parents. I had a year 2 girl who, when asked to paint herself doing something she thought she would do as an adult. painted herself leaving a nightclub.
Her parents were quiet people who had no idea where she had learned about such things. She was a bit of a handful.

I wish that was true Urms!

The world is black and white to them. They’re not just innocent, they’re also ignorant and easily indoctrinated because they don’t see shades of grey. That knowledge comes with maturity.