Hello friends! Here is a script that my colleagues and I wrote to speak to our kindergarten students about the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. It provides simple language for talking about the news with young children. If you have or know young children, perhaps it can help you too. (Note: our students already know about voting and elections.)
"On winning and losing:
A few days ago, some people were upset that they lost the election. They had some big, difficult feelings. They were sad and mad that they did not get their way.
Do you remember when we talked about winning and losing? How do YOU feel when you lose? What can we do when we feel upset?
These were adults that were upset. They did something that they were not allowed to do. They broke the rules. They went into a building that was not theirs. They tried to interrupt an important meeting.
How might YOU feel if someone tried to interrupt our meeting right now? (Closing circle, etc.)? If someone came into our Zoom room who was not in our class? And tried to be loud to end our meeting? Do you think we would give up? Do you think we would end our meeting forever? No, that is not what we would do. We would not give up. We would keep trying.
And that is not what happened with the adults either. Even though some people broke the rules, and even though they tried to interrupt an important meeting, it did not work. The meeting did not give up. The mad adults who broke the rules did not get their way.
What else could they have done when they were upset about losing? Can we brainstorm some other options for them? Did they have to break the rules? Did they have to go into a building that was not theirs? Did they have to interrupt an important meeting? No. Let’s work together to think of other choices that they could make next time."
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