"Mom, you said the 'D' word!"
This came out of the mouth of my 7 year old as we cruised down the highway. My husband and I had been discussing U.S. politics and the horrified voice from the backseat indicated that we had somehow crossed a linguistic line. I ran the mental checks I had in place for moments such as these - had I sworn? No. Had I said something that was a little too off color for tiny ears? No. What had I said?
Donald Trump.
Up until this point we were unaware of the amount of information that our children had picked up from conversation and media. At 7 years old our youngest was far more interested in her Shopkins collection than politics. While we briefed them on Canadian affairs from time to time, we had never really considered bringing foreign affairs into the fold.
It turned out that between overheard conversations, headlines on msn.com and the conversations between her and another 7 year old friend, my darling little girl had concluded that Mr. Trump was a not very nice man. Yes, she had been discussing this with another child, and drawing her conclusions largely from media and hearsay. I am not going to say that I disagree with her opinion. I do however take note of her sources and how these sources are shaping her view of the world around her.
Online media is a wonderful source of information, with some outlets being more trustworthy that others. Headlines have changed from being chosen based on content, to being praised for their worthiness as 'clickbait' designed to bring in the highest number of readers possible while still maintaining some relation to the actual content of the article presented. I have already introduced the concept of peer reviewed research to my oldest child, instructing him to steer clear of wikipedia and .org sites when conducting research. He is only in the 5th grade, but I reason that by teaching him this now, his transition into university will be that much smoother. At 7 years old, there has been no research done in class and no instruction on how to go about finding reliable information on the internet.
This is how my 7 year old became convinced that Donald Trump was going to build a wall between the United States and Mexico that was going to reach all the way up to the sky. It would be so high that not even an airplane could fly over it, and Canadians were going to be incredibly upset that they could no longer take their vacations there. This was all Trump's fault.
So I did what any good mother would do and assured her that while yes, a wall could be built, technically, there was no way to build a wall that tall. Her eyes went wide with conviction and declared it to be true because it was on the internet and, her friend told her so. I wasn't sure what to be more horrified with, the idea that she thought everything on the internet was true (which she reiterated to me repeatedly) or that she believed everything her friends told her. I suppose that the argument could be made that both sources are equally fallible, and when combined with the gullibility of a child, misinformation is bound to happen.
I wonder how many of us over the age of 7 are still being misinformed?
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