I was horribly saddened today

[Horse with no Name]

My granddaughter is 6. We live in a red county, she attends a very red school. Obviously, they didn't show his speech yesterday.
We try not to burden the kids with politics. They are too young to be part of this horrificly partisan brawl that is politics today. I never badmouthed Bush or McCain while they were in the limelight in her presence. It is difficult to teach tolerance when you are intolerant.
So tonight, I sit down to watch the speech.
My granddaughter comes running into the living room, looks at the TV, puts her fingers in her ears and starts screaming "LALALALALALA".
I was mortified of course.
I asked her what she was doing?
She told me she didn't want to hear HIM speak.
The first thing I did was make her say his name respectfully and told her we didn't tolerate anything else.
I asked her where she heard and saw that behavior. Of course she didn't say, but I know in my heart it came from the little school full of intolerant redneck's kids.:(
I am hoping that she didn't hear it from adults because I told her that we respect the President and we listen to what he has to say, whether we agree or not and I would not tolerate the behavior she exhibited.
I also told her that ANYONE that told her to act like I just witnessed was nothing but a "crazy".
I hope I don't get a call from her teacher tomorrow...

[Ken Burch]

1. You did right, and your granddaughter's teacher would be way out of line to attack you for it

In these times, progressive families are, in some cases, the only defense on right wing lies.

[MsLeopard]

2. Good on you

It might be okay if you did hear from her teacher tomorrow - you may well teach her a thing or two. :cheers:

[aquart]

3. Don't wait for the call. YOU CALL.

YOU ask what kind of unpatriotic disrespect is being taught in those classrooms. YOU DO IT.

How dare they send a child home with that attitude.

[FLyellowdog]

4. I hope you do so you can tell him/her that such actions will not tolerated

If it came from your granddaughter's classroom, the behavior should have been stopped by the teacher, regardless of political leanings. You need to find out just what happened yesterday. That was just plain rude and disrepectful of the office of the Presidency.

[MissMarple]

5. Well done, grandmother.

:applause:

I always told my kids, some people may choose to act that way, but WE don't. We are better than that. And today, they are both very centered, very fair young adults. My other favorite phrase, and it also worked with my fifth grade boys when I was teaching special ed.: "There's no honor in that." They knew instinctively what it meant. It took the smirk right off their faces.

Just talk and comment occasionally to her in a general way about good behavior and respect for all people as you and she watch tv or movies. She may never know she is being "nudged". She is showing a typical behavior, and just needs some gentle, consistent guidance. Books work well, too. Ask your librarian for age appropriate stories about the qualities you want to reinforce. If you are reading to her, her listening level should be beyond her reading level.

Again, kudos. :)

[blogslut]

6. You know what to do, Grandma

She will listen to you and I have faith you will guide her to a fair assessment of her president.

[Pangolin2]

7. Is there any chance she got it from her parents?

Not implying anything but it does sound like the kind of thing a kid would get from mom or dad...

[Horse with no Name]

9. Um no.

We are all actually pretty tolerant people.

[Pangolin2]

23. Okay, good; it was just that I've seen some examples of what I was asking

my own mom didn't communicate very well with my nieces and nephews.

[MissMarple]

10. Kids drag all kinds of ideas and attitudes in from their day to try out at home.

And...at school. :) You have to be prepared because they are like little sponges, and they feel compelled to wring themselves out.

[Pangolin2]

24. I remember my own sponge days.

;-)

[BlueDemKev]

8. You Handled It Well

Don't worry, you handled it just fine. Kids (particulary elementary-age ones) pick up all kinds of nonsense from school from dislike of the president to tasteless sexual jokes. My 3-yr-old came up to me last month and out of nowhere used the F-word. :crazy: He was totally shocked by our reaction, having no idea that he had done something "bad."

[MissMarple]

11. I have only one reaction to that:

:rofl:

[BlueDemKev]

12. Umm....

Yeah, I guess it is something to laugh about now. It is truly amazing what small children pick up!

[MissMarple]

16. Exactly. And, as I mention above, they are like sponges.

I'm in Colorado Springs, luckily in a bluer enclave, definitely blue violet. Good luck!

[Solomon]

13. It is sad because you know that in her heart she's still

innocent because she's just trying to fit in with her peers and there's can be no denying that this attitude is normal among her peers.

It's sad because it's always a confusing event to a young child to suddenly discover that what brings her praise and acceptance with her peers, got a correction, which even though it was not, probably felt like a scolding to her.

I feel for her but good that it happened early on if it had to happen at all. I believe you have just evelated her life to the good forever because now she has a consciousness outside of her peer group that will make her more advanced
than them. She will stand out the rest of her school career for having her own mind. Well done.

[kalli007]

15. On another forum

a fellow teacher received a note from a parent stating that Obama's name was never to be used in her childs presence, and she would be absent from any lesson including references to him.

[renate]

19. welcome to DU

And

:wow:

Poor kid.

[redqueen]

14. That's why I *do* talk to my kids about politics...

in red areas, if you don't, someone else will.

[marshall]

17. In some cases home schooling might really be the best option

If one can arrange it.

[noamnety]

18. Oh gosh

"I told her that we respect the President and we listen to what he has to say, whether we agree or not "

I taught my daughter we don't respect the President, and I tended to change the channel if he was on tv. (during the bush years)

I don't think it's in me to teach anyone that they should respect a person just because they are president. What if McCain was elected, had a heart attack, and Palin was president?

[Horse with no Name]

20. You don't talk ideology with 5-6 year olds

It isn't a concept they can understand, and you might be surprised at how much kids WORRY about things that they see you worry about.
Make no mistake, we didn't embrace ANYTHING that the bush did--in fact, I couldn't even watch him on TV. However, I never disparaged him to her. When she asked who it was, I simply said it was the President and moved along, not offering any other information or opinions.
Kids don't need the stress. They don't need to be indoctrinated into political ideology. You can only hope that how you live and the things you do reflects into them to guide them. We feed hungry people, clothe people who have no clothes, and help others where we can.
Certainly that will guide her much better than hating others and disrespecting others.
While I might be quite opinionated here, I am a relatively calm and low-key person. I don't look for conflict and rarely engage--unless provoked to the point I cannot walk away.

[noamnety]

22. We have different perspectives

Explicitly teaching a child that they should respect and look up to a person simply because he's been elected to something IS indoctrination, in my book, and one of the most dangerous forms of it.

I think we (both parties) really have lost sight of some basics - the president is not royalty, no matter which party he belongs to, he's a public servant. If you put the president next to a migrant worker and ask which has the more noble job, I don't know what I'd say. The president has larger responsibilities to more people, but he's also playing a game of continually selling out and compromising those responsibilities so as to get more reelection money.

[suffragette]

21. Truly disheartening

The only way we can know if we agree or disagree is to listen, read and pay attention.

She is fortunate to have you in her life and it's great that you were there to guide her during such an impressionable time of her life.

Brava

:applause: