Recent times have shown that young children are much aware of current affairs than earlier. News reports are spreading on social media and due to the fact that children are using such platforms, they tend to keep themselves up to date.
Being informed, however, is one thing and having views on political scenarios is another. According to The Federalist, K-12 teachers are discussing the results of the recently concluded 2016 U.S. Presidential election with the students.
Different schools emailed parents that in order to overcome the effects of the results of the election, teachers are going to discuss with students about how they feel. Some of the schools even allowed their teachers to sing songs and called in counselors to offer therapeutic help to the children.
Unfortunately, all these efforts made many parents uncomfortable as the whole process is a bit too much political for young kids. Some moms even opposed this process. In their view, teachers should not provide counseling or help of any sort as their duty only pertains to teach and teach alone.
With that said, some teachers also thought that their duty is only to educate and tell them it is important to embrace defeat graciously. While tThe New York education department suggested to the principals and administration of the schools to endorse peace and calmness.
In an article posted on Huffington Post, a delicate question was raised — "What should parents tell the children if Donald Trump won the election? As outlined, it's important to tell the children that democracy has its own way of working and since democratic governments are formed by the people, they aren't allowed to do any damage to the people. Instead, it's there to safeguard and protect the interests of the public.
Another thing, it's also best to explain to children that there will be no racial, religious, homophobic or immigrated-based prejudices will be acceptable and any harm to them will not be tolerated. It is also important to teach them the importance of freedom of expression and to encourage them to speak up for themselves. These measures will not only help children accept the results but will also contribute to their future lives.
