Explaining geopolitics to a seven year-old

[a completely inoffensive name]

I think that as long as your are talking with your child everyday, then everything will be alright. If they somehow have developed very odd or wrong philosophies about life (maybe the nazis were ultimately good for stopping communism), you can just correct it through more communication. Just keep talking to the kid and sooner or later your common sense will be imparted. But wtf do I know, I am young.

[HoreTore]

If the measure is "am I better than the people on Jersey Shore" then I guess 99.999% of fathers are successes. I'm trying to do a little better than that, though.

I need to think about this whole Socratic dialogue thing. You're right, of course, that eliciting answers out of him is more artful and a better exercise for his mind, but he's so freakin' young. I feel as though he needs to build up a database before I start wiring in queries. Dunno.

No no no no NO, my silly little Lemur

Learning through discovery is MORE important the younger the student gets, not less. A 20-year old can learn a subject through transfer of knowledge alone(I'd say not as good as througb discovery, but whatever), but in the younger years it is absolutely crucial to avoid transferring knowledge.

That was a lot harsher than intended, as what you were doing originally was learning through interaction, not the dreaded knowledge transfer. And learning through interaction is, of course, a whole new subject...

Your son has the knowledge of an 8-year old, which probably means "not that much" in this subject. I do understand your fear that he will be unable to connect the dots because he won't have any dots to begin with, so to speak. But he does have a lot of dots. He has spent years interacting with other children, he has travelled around, he can manipulate a wealth of items, he has felt a dozen feelings, etc etc. What you need to figure out is, as my old lecturer would say, "what is the situation now?" What is his related experience, what is his "dot"? Find it, and then challenge him. I'm a little distracted by Star Wars playing in the background now, so I'm not that good at examples right now... My advice would be to start small. Your son might wonder about everything related to nazi's. However, I can't see him learning anything by a 2-hour "Nazi 101"-lecture. Instead, focus on a minor aspect of the nazi's which you can tie to one of his "dots", for example the Fuhrer, which could be tied an influential kid your son knows which sometimes gets other kids to do something they might not want to do... I am quite certain that your son will have a wealth of opinions on that situation, and when you question him on what he felt, what he would do, what is right,why they did what they did, etc, what you are actually doing is forcing him to form an opinion on whether dictatorships are justified or not. Voila!





But a little disclaimer at the end: my focus is on the kids who are a little older than your son is, so I don't claim to be an expert on it, there is a reason the education is divided into age brackets... Kids at different ages learn through diffent ways, though I believe most of what I have written here is transferable.

[HoreTore]

I think that as long as your are talking with your child everyday, then everything will be alright.

I agree wholeheartidly with this.

Also, a little extra comment: when you answer a question, don't lie. Don't give an answer if you don't know, say that you don't know instead. They'll see right through your lie and lose respect as a consequence. Find the answer and get back to him at a later time, or better yet, time and circumstances permitting, find some way he can figure it out himself.

And do remember Lemur, you only have a year or two before he has knowledge you don't have

[Adrian II]

I think that as long as your are talking with your child everyday, then everything will be alright.

Exactly, patience is the father of all good fathering.

AII

P.S. Dang, ninja'd by Norway again

[Louis VI the Fat]

And this is how I wind up facing the bathtime question, "Who was worse, Hitler or the Spartans?"

Hmmm...I'm pretty sure this very question is the topic of a Monastery thread right now....

[Vladimir]

If the measure is "am I better than the people on Jersey Shore" then I guess 99.999% of fathers are successes. I'm trying to do a little better than that, though.

I need to think about this whole Socratic dialogue thing. You're right, of course, that eliciting answers out of him is more artful and a better exercise for his mind, but he's so freakin' young. I feel as though he needs to build up a database before I start wiring in queries. Dunno.

They're you're children. They'll always be young.

[Major Robert Dump]

WHY R U EVEN TLKAING TO YOUR KIDS AIN'T YOU GOT A TV???????????

[GoreBag]

The plum pudding model states that the elections

Simmer down, bro.

[Askthepizzaguy]

My parents used to just let me watch the Mclaughlin group. I loved it

I liked that show.

[rajpoot]

IMO the only 'political' idea that must be instilled in a kid is patriotism. About everything else they'll make their own opinion sooner or later.

[a completely inoffensive name]

Simmer down, bro.

lol wut?

[Veho Nex]

I cant remember a time were I was ever curious about war. I mean some of my earliest memories are of watching John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies with my dad. Then by the time we started dealing with insurgents in Iraq and Afghan I didn't why or who we were fighting. Then when I did care, when more than a handful of buddies joined up and less than that came back, that I was old enough to think I formed my own opinions.

[classical_hero]

Bath conversation last night — Maxwell doesn't like the fact that Usagi Yojimbo kills so many people. "He doesn't have mercy. When was mercy invented?" I explain that in certain societies, at certain times, human life has been devalued.

"Like the Nazis?" Max asks. Yes, I say, although they were far from alone. It's happened many times.

"So what were the worst countries?" he asks. I reel of an easy list: Nazi Germany, feudal Japan, the Aztecs, the Spartans, Soviet Russia ...

And this is how I wind up facing the bathtime question, "Who was worse, Hitler or the Spartans?"

Oh for crying out loud.

It is good that he has an inquisitive mind. The good thing to say is that they are both are just as evil as each other. Meaning that killing innocent people is wrong. Or you could go down this route. You kill one person and you are called a murderer, you kill one million and you are a conqueror. Best use that one when he starts playing Total War.

[Major Robert Dump]

Lemur: How are you going to explain the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act?

[a completely inoffensive name]

Lemur: How are you going to explain the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act?

Are you kidding? That was the spark that started the revolution, among a generation, that rose up, and said that Obama is a ONE. TERM. PRESIDENT!

[Papewaio]

Ah to illuminate and enlighten a mind with the freedom of choice.

[Adrian II]

If the measure is "am I better than the people on Jersey Shore" then I guess 99.999% of fathers are successes. I'm trying to do a little better than that, though.

I need to think about this whole Socratic dialogue thing. You're right, of course, that eliciting answers out of him is more artful and a better exercise for his mind, but he's so freakin' young. I feel as though he needs to build up a database before I start wiring in queries. Dunno.

Just let the little cogs inside his head turn and whirr and do their job. He won't be 7 forever. My goldenrule with everything is: don't make any issue seem simpler that it is just because he is young.

It's the same with speech. If you speak in proper sentences to a child from the first day, his command of language will be much better than if you talk gibberish ('Oochy coochy baby want his milky?') to him for years.

AII

[Montmorency]

Relevant:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

WHEN A MAN POSSESSES THE INNOCENCE
OF A CHILD, WE CALL HIM A FOOL.
WHEN A CHILD POSSESSES THE CUNNING
OF A MAN, WE CALL HIM AN
ABOMINATION.
AS WITH LOVE, KNOWLEDGE HAS ITS
SEASON.

[Vladimir]

Relevant:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

WHEN A MAN POSSESSES THE INNOCENCE
OF A CHILD, WE CALL HIM A FOOL.
WHEN A CHILD POSSESSES THE CUNNING
OF A MAN, WE CALL HIM AN
ABOMINATION.
AS WITH LOVE, KNOWLEDGE HAS ITS
SEASON.

This is a picture of me when I was seven:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us