As we get into the election season, there’s a lot to navigate with your kids. The commercials, political positions, personal opinions… so how do we talk to our kids about it all, especially when it can feel overwhelming to us as adults? Teaching kids about elections doesn’t have to be complicated, though, when you’re armed a few good tips and tools.
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5 Tips for Teaching Kids About Elections
Let them see different points of view
It’s good to have convictions, values, and issues that are important to you. And it’s really good to talk about those with your kids. But it’s also really important for our kids to see other points of view – even if we disagree with them!
So this might mean reading news articles (or even just headlines) from multiple sources. This can also be a great way to discuss political bias.
We use current events as part of our Morning Journal, and while there are specific news sources that align more closely with our own personal beliefs and values, we also bring in opposite points of view from other sources. This helps us have rich conversations about the why behind what we believe.
CNN 10 and World Watch News are both good news sources to try.
Ask them questions
Don’t just share your own opinions with your kids – ask them questions! Get them to think critically about different political positions and why they would vote one way or another.
If we want to raise kids who think critically, it’s important to ask questions in a way that doesn’t tell them what to believe, but allows them to form their own ideas. Especially as our kids get older, it’s important for them to come to their own conclusions about big ideas.
So when you see political commercials, hear about things that candidates say, or different topics come up, invite your kids into the conversation (in age appropriate ways). Let them share their own opinions and ideas without judgment. They need to know that it’s okay to disagree (and even prefer a different candidate) without fear of our disapproval.
It can be tricky, navigating our own political ideologies and opinions, without forcing them onto our kids. But it’s really important to help our kids develop their own thoughts and ideas, without just assuming they will always align with ours.
For the really big issues, the ones that are of the most moral and ethical importance to you, talk about why you believe what you do with your kids. For example, in our house, we always bring it back to the Bible – how does the Bible and our faith inform our political opinions? This gives our kids a reason for our beliefs and gives them something to build their own beliefs on too.
Read books
Books are the best tool for teaching kids about elections. From picture books to chapter books to graphic novels, there are SO many books to read about the elections! This is a great way to talk about the nitty gritty and the how of elections, especially if you don’t feel very confident in your own knowledge about how the government works. I’ve learned a lot about our democratic process that I didn’t know alongside my kids – through books!
You can find an extensive book list within the U.S. Government and Elections Unit Study, but here are a few of our must-haves:
Younger kids:
- The Interactive Constitution by David Miles
- What’s The Big Deal About Elections by Ruby Shamir and Matt Faulkner
- Democracy for Dinosaurs: A Guide for Young Citizens by Laurie Krasny Brown
- So You Want to Be President? by Judith St. George and David Small
Older kids:
- When You Grow Up to Vote by Eleanor Roosevelt
- For Which We Stand: How our government works and why it matters by Jeff Foster
- The Constitution Decoded by Katie Kennedy
- Usborne Understanding Politics and Government
- The Everything American Government Book by Nick Ragone
You may also like doing a deep dive into U.S. Presidents. Pick some former Presidents to learn about, to give your kids a background of the President’s job, what Presidents have done in the past, etc.
Avoid the drama
There can be a LOT of drama in a Presidential election, and this year has certainly been no exception. As adults, it can sometimes be hard to avoid the drama. But when talking about the elections with your kids, try to approach things from a neutral point of view. If we drag them into the drama, it doesn’t help them learn about how politics could and should look.
We want the next generation to do things better, so if we teach our kids to approach politics from a drama-free perspective, maybe their generation can avoid the arguments, name-calling, and accusations that are so prevalent around elections. Wishful thinking, perhaps, but I’m willing to make the effort!
As your kids get older, into the teen years, we obviously want to help them learn how to navigate some of the political drama without getting sucked into it. So this is where the open dialogue is important. This is where teaching them to think critically is so important.
It’s also incredibly important for us to remember that all candidates and people involved in politics are human. When we remember this, it can help us to be compassionate and kind and avoid some of the drama, which will hopefully teach this to our kids as well.
Learn together as a family
You don’t need to wait until your kids are older to start talking about the democratic process. When you learn together as a family, your littles will learn from your bigs and everyone can learn at their own pace.
When we were learning about the different branches of the government within our U.S. Government and Elections Unit Study, my seven-year-old obviously wasn’t learning to the depth that my older kids were. But it was so fun to see him incorporate the vocabulary into his everyday life. Suddenly, everyone in our house got “vetoed” – ha!
When you embrace family style learning, you can broach the difficult topics together as a family. You get to discuss your family’s values and political viewpoints altogether.
