Psychology Today | 07.10.2026 05:02
Parents are often hesitant to discuss politics with their children. Past research studies have reported that parents avoid political topics because they think their children are uninterested in politics, will not understand political issues, or should be shielded from the divisiveness of political discourse. In a study colleagues and I did surrounding the 2020 presidential election, a father of a 6-year-old said that in their family “we do not discuss politics or religion because those subjects can become emotional and invite conflict” (Patterson & Pahlke, 2021). Parents like this father hope that by avoiding discussions of politics, their children will remain blissfully unaware of the partisan fights roiling our country.
