How Should We Explain Donald Trump’s Election Win To Children?
When children ask us who Donald Trump is and why he won, what should we say? First News editor, Nicky Cox MBE, offers some suggestions…
- by Nicky Cox
I’m sure there were many teachers across the world waking up yesterday morning wondering how they would explain the result of the US election to the pupils in their classes.
For children trying to make sense of the world, seeing news stories like this – and how they’re reported – can be concerning. Here are the facts that we at First News believe children need to know about Donald Trump:
Who is Donald Trump?
• Donald Trump is a rich businessman
• He was previously the star of the American reality TV show, The Apprentice
• At 70, he will become America’s oldest ever president
Why are some people worried he will be the new president?
• Trump is tough on immigration
• He wants to build a wall on America’s border with Mexico
• He supports gun ownership
Crooked Hillary wants to take your 2nd Amendment rights away. Will guns be taken from her heavily armed Secret Service detail? Maybe not!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 17, 2016
• He wants to ban Muslims entering the US because he thinks it will help stop terrorism
• He doesn’t believe in climate change
The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012
• He has been criticised for things he said about women, other races and countries
What is good about Trump?
• America has a lot of unemployment. He promises more jobs and industry
• He wants to be friends with Russia – and Russia’s president likes him
• He wants to be tougher on terrorism
Will Trump get everything he wants?
• He needs the support of other politicians to make his ideas happen.
• The two main parties are the Republicans (AKA the Grand Old Party or ‘GOP’) and the Democrats
• Donald Trump is a Republican
• There are more elected Republicans than Democrats
• But many Republicans do not like Donald Trump’s ideas; they can all vote against him if they don’t like his plans
Teachers might also find these two articles useful – ‘Experts weigh in: How to talk to your kids about the election results‘ and ‘What Do We Tell The Children?‘.
Trump says he wants to make America great again – he has four years to convince America it made the right choice
First News covers all the major headlines in the news that we know children are hearing about. We have a daily bulletin on our new online news channel for children, First News Live!, and also produce 2-minute explanatory videos called ‘I Don’t Get It!’, which cover topics ranging from the migrant crisis to the Zika Virus – and most recently the US election.
We tell the truth in everything that we do, but don’t scaremonger and try to spare the graphic details where they are unnecessary.
For more information, visit www.firstnews.co.uk or follow @First_News
