Like so many of you, I woke up to deeply distressing election results, and a Facebook feed full of parents asking how to share the news with their children. Here’s how I had this difficult conversation with my daughters, who are currently 8 and 6 years old.
First, I calmed myself down. This required me to take lots of deep breaths and remind myself that I just needed to hold it together until I could get the girls to school. (Please bear in mind that I have cried in front of my children, and I will do so again. I don’t have a problem with this. However, it is terribly upsetting to them, and I knew the news would be bad enough. I didn’t want to make things worse before sending them to school.)
Then I said, “Guys, the election is over, and Donald Trump won.”
No freak out. No commentary. Just that.
You see, I know what I am scared of, but I didn’t know where their young minds would go. I didn’t want to insert my fears and anxieties into their reality if they weren’t already there. So, I stayed silent. I sat, and I waited. I let their questions and concerns guide the conversation.
You can read about how the rest of the conversation went over at Kveller.com.
