This is not a McCann thread so let's not go there, but it is partly inspired by that discussion.
At 6, DD1 is still entirely innocent of current affairs. She is aware of death, illness, poverty, earthquakes, ecological issues, adoption and that the chicken on your plate is a 'real chicken'. However, she knows about these things as general concepts or because they have directly impacted her life, not because they feature in "the News". She is not aware of war, murder, kidnap, famine, terrorism and, until last weekend, divorce (all the children in her class are in classic two parent families which must be a statistical anomoly). This hasn't been a conscious choice it's just that we don't take a newspaper, she only watches Cbeebies and exceptionally tame DVDs (the DDs' choice as even Number Jacks and Aladdin is deemed 'too scarey'), she doesn't tend to notice Radio 4 when it's on, we generally leave discussion of current affairs until after she's in bed and her school is very protective, precious and in an exceptionally quaint 1950s groove.
My instinct is to leave her in this happy innocence for as long as possible, even to continue to 'protect' her from the News, but is there a point at which we should start to introduce the Iraq War, Dafur and 9/11? Or do we wait until she inevitably becomes aware of issues and starts to ask questions? What do you do?
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At what age do you think it appropriate to introduce children to the harsher side of 'the News'?
25 replies
Issymum · 22/05/2007 10:33
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KerryMum ·
22/05/2007 10:41
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wulfricsmummy ·
29/05/2007 20:16
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