Updated: Nov 8, 2021
As parents, we know that we are supposed to talk with our kids about sex, but how often do we talk with them about politics? According to an article in PsyPost.org in March of 2020, about 35% of children reject the political views of their parents. However, the stat that really got my attention is the fact that another 28% of kids misidentified the political affiliations of their parents. These findings are consistent with research done at Stanford University which finds that about 53% of kids either decline or misidentify the political stances of their progenitors.
I looked into these statistics only after I had a conversation with my twenty-one year old son where it became quite apparent that he was surprised at the voting philosophy of his mother and me. Of my six kids, four of them are now of voting age; and with a national election looming, more often than not, the conversations at family gatherings turn to politics. During these conversations, it has become quite clear that at least two of the other three potential voters are also not inline with my wife and me; and of my other two teenagers, only one of them is certainly of a similar mind politically as his parents.
I looked into these statistics only after I had a conversation with my twenty-one-year-old son. It became apparent that he was surprised at the voting in March of 2020, about 35% of children reject their parents' political views. However, the stat that really got my attention is that another 28% of kids misidentified their parents' political affiliations. These findings are consistent with research done at Stanford University, which finds that about 53% of kids either decline or misidentify their progenitors' political stances.
I have a friend who comes from a very politically minded family. One particular year, she and her husband were feeling a bit conflicted as to how they were going to vote. They decided that because they didn’t want to “cancel-out” one another’s vote, they would talk about it and decide to be unified in their choice. I thought that that certainly makes sense. So I wonder, what would it look like to have that kind of frank discussion with our kids even before they are old enough to vote?
Stu Duncan
Educator of Project BestLife