Well my mother thinks I'm negligent because I don't watch the TV news and therefore my children weren't always aware of what is going on in the world.
It really depends on their age, and the story. I was out of the country during 9/11 and my oldest was about to turn 7. My children were home with my husbands parents watching them. At that time we deliberately kept what was going on away from my my 7 year old daughter, (and my son but at 2 that wasn't as hard) Thankfully her school made a policy not to talk about the trama but it's a wonder she didn't pick up much from the other kids. My inlaws were very good at not watching the TV news when the kids were home. We did have conversations about it when we got back and she didn't have to worry about us.
As they aged, I would often tell them in my own words about major breaking news. They were going to hear about it on the playground, and around other kids and I wanted them to hear the information from me first.
My children are now teens/young adults and I encourage them to read the newspaper as much as they want. Or watch/read news online. I will particularly talk to them about something going on. Last weekend big headlining news, I made my son read about as I wanted to discuss it with him. This particular issue hits close to home for a number of reasons. I particularly wanted to talk with him about some of the the deeper issues and before he started seeing some of the stuff online. My parents also turned my son onto the Daily Show, and he now records it and watches it when he gets home from school. I usually watch it with him and this gives us a chance to talk about the issues.
Last edited by bluemagic; 05/30/14 10:00 PM.
