Are you talking to your kids about everything happening in the US?

I recently had a convo with another parent from my daughter’s school. I was surprised to learn that he hadn’t told his kids anything about what is happening.

My husband and I take a Mr. Rogers approach to the world. Nothing is too big that it can’t be talked about with kids. We believe kids are people too and they deserve to know about historical and current events — the good, the bad, and the ugly (age appropriate, of course).

For example, my daughter (7) knows about the Holocaust (she’s half Jewish with lineage that escaped). When she noticed the egg shelves were empty at the store, we told her about bird flu. We talked about the election with her and she even watched part of the presidential debate with us. (So many questions followed…she was confused and thought Trump wanted to come to our house to eat our cat…)

We have filled her in on key things that are going on because:

1) everything happening is a BIG deal. I mean, it’s not every day a coup occurs…

2) if kids her age are actually experiencing hardship due to policy (e.g., parents taken away by ICE, parents getting fired from their jobs), she can at least know about it.

3) it helps us articulate our family’s values.

4) we assumed she would overhear convos between adults at school and after school activities. (This assumption was correct.)

I assumed others were doing the same thing with their kids. Is that other parent in the minority or am I? If I’m in the minority, when have you all decided to share major news with your kids?