Should Kids Be Exposed To Politics?

My book, the Orangey-Tan parodies a certain current U.S. President in the storyline. Probably the most hotly debated topic on the Manimal Tales social media threads is whether kids should be exposed to politics or not. 


My original plan was to write an essay expounding on my point of view on this topic, but in doing my research, I realized that the user comments on my threads actually covered all the arguments really well. So (especially now!), I thought it would be much better to hear the vox populi rather than just the I. Aren’t we all tired of egocentric, narcissistic people who think only in the first person anyway? 


(Note: names have been intentionally blurred out to preserve privacy).


There are many people who think we shouldn’t be writing kid’s books that are political in nature.

 

I should say that while my book does parody the current U.S. President, it definitely is more a story about values and civics than about politics per se. The book talks to kids about a set of values that should be universal: to care for all people, however different they may be from you; to stand up for what you believe in, and to protest peacefully against those you disagree with.

 

Many people argue that we should steer children away from politics and related topics; they believe kids should just be kids and our job as adults is to preserve their innocence for as long as possible.

 

But there are some really good counterarguments:

To start with, kids are a lot smarter than most adults give them credit for. It is far better to have a kid that is well-informed than one that is kept willfully ignorant of the world.

 

As an example in a recent study of kids (5-11 years old) reactions to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, researchers discovered that 90% of participants knew details about at least one of the candidates (indicating they are exposed to information), but a quarter of them believed it was against the law for a woman to be a President (horrifying, but it speaks to the need to ensure they are well-informed early on).


A lot of parents agreed that it’s important to teach kids about basic values and simple tenets of democracy.

 

Some went further and stressed that it’s important for children to know how the Government works – or at least couldn’t understand why they shouldn’t.

 

The simplest and strongest argument for ensuring they are well-informed is because they have the strongest stake: what we do today has repercussions on all their tomorrows.

 

And isn’t our role as parents to actually teach them about everything (including politics) and better prepare them for life?

 

A key part of being a parent is to impart a value system to your kids. (This is something I personally believe very strongly). Your values are going to be based on your personal beliefs. How can they not be? In fact, one could argue that your politics is simply the public expression of your values.

 

All politics is personal (more so today than ever), and almost everything is political. So why is it OK to teach your kids about your faith and religion, but not your politics?

 

In this day and age, it’s almost impossible not to talk about politics with your kids. The Orangey-Tan has made the environment so toxic, and so much about himself, that whether you want to or not, you may well have to talk about politics, if only to draw a contrast between the values you believe in, and those that he tramples upon every day.

 

For those in a minority or marginalized, how can you not?

 

After all, not teaching them about politics may have caused the problem in the first place!

 

Can you imagine what life may have been like had perhaps more people actually done that in the first place? Sadly, we all can. 

Hopefully, we won’t have to for much longer, and I can go back to writing non-political personalized children’s books!

General Questions

Manimal Tales is a publisher of beautifully illustrated personalized books. We have personalized books for children and adults. From birthday books to new baby tales, and from bedtime stories to ABC books, we have custom books for all occasions!

We even offer PhotoStories, our personalized picture books with photos.

At Manimal Tales, we fervently believe every child should be the hero of their own story!

Personalized books (or custom books as they are sometimes referred to) allow the reader to become the hero of the story - literally.

The main character in the story is the reader / receiver of the book, and is represented by an avatar that looks like them. There are usually lots of additional personalized details printed in the stories, including the receiver's name, age, family members and more.

Our PhotoStories offer a whole new level of personalization by allowing you to add your own photos into the story and have them printed out with the book.

Browse through our collection of custom books to see which ones work for your loved ones!

It's super easy to personalize your own book!

Browse through our collection of personalized stories and select the titles you want. On the product page, add the details required to personalize the book (name, age, family members, photos etc.). You can then preview the entire book before you buy, so you know exactly what you're going to get!

Once you're satisfied, add the book to your cart, enter your payment details and your unique, one-of-a-kind personalized book will arrive on your doorstep in 6 to 9 days!

The short answer is that it depends on the personalized book title in question!

All books will have your loved one as the main protagonist and their name will be printed on the book cover as well as in the story.

In some of our books like Dreamland and What Will I Be? the (the An ABC Story) your loved one's name is printed on every page.

In our Manimal Tales series, in addition to your child's name, you can select an avatar that looks like your child.

In our custom baby tales, Your Baby's Story and Your Baby's Story (Sibling version), you have to enter names and select avatars for the parents and the siblings as well.

And for our PhotoStories, you can further customize the books by uploading and adding your own photos directly into the book. The stories have been written to incorporate the photos as part of the story itself.

Whichever personalized book you do choose, we guarantee your loved one's will love our custom tales just as much as we do!

We have books for all ages and occasions! On the menu bar at the top of the page you can filter through our collections of personalized books by a variety of different criteria.

We have personalized books for:

- Birthdays

- New babies / baby showers

- Bedtime books

- Back To School / ABC books

- Seek & Find books

We also offer custom books with engaging stories about:

- Friendship and bravery

- Standing up for your beliefs

- Animal rights and adventure

We have personalized books across all ages:

- 0 to 3 years

- 3 to 6 years

- 6 years and above

- Adult stories

Lastly we have our PhotoStories, which allow users to upload photos and have them become part of the story!

- Happy Birthday Personalized PhotoStory

- Your Baby's Personalized PhotoStory

Nothing beats getting a book with your name on it!

Personalized books are treasured and loved by all, and make great keepsakes.

We offer custom books for all occasions, ensuring you will always find a book to meet your needs.

You can always reach us by filling out our Contact Form.

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