Do your kids know who Trump is? Do you talk about politics at home? Tell us.

How should we talk to kids about politics? What are your strategies? What do you think is important for kids to know in order to be good participants in this (hopefully) ongoing democratic experiment?

Show Caption

A request from a parent of two boys to our country’s leaders: Please stop monkey wrenching my every attempt to get these kids to resemble presentable, civil, empathetic human beings.

I’ve got some things going for me. Like PBS (which teaches kids great things – but maybe won’t be around much anymore). And grandparents – who were raised in an era when presidential candidates didn’t publicly insult each other’s penis sizes. And schools where teachers condemn bullying and emphasize acceptance.

But then you go and pick on some of the most vulnerable people, saying that a transgender kid is horrible for wanting to be included on a sports team or that immigrants are mostly criminals, rather than people who are upending their lives because they want a better situation for themselves and their families.

Send us an email: What do you want to tell your mom? Ahead of Mother’s Day, we want your letters. | Opinion Forum

So, how do I counteract the nasty political rhetoric that, if uttered by my boys, would land them (and me) in the principal’s office facing an alarmed-looking school administrator?

How should we explain politics to kids?

I guess I’m using a “better angels” strategy, trying to point to leaders who said and did the right thing, sometimes reaching back in history. Like when once-virulent racist and former Alabama Gov. George Wallace flipped his script, admitted he was wrong and sought the forgiveness of Black people he oppressed, saying the segregation he supported “was wrong” and “will never come back again.”

Or when the late Sen. John McCain, who in his unsuccessful 2008 presidential bid pushed back against the conspiracy theories and boos of supporters, telling them that his Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, was a “decent family man (and) citizen.”

But I’ve hardly got all the answers here. How should we talk to children about politics? What are your strategies and what do you think is important for kids to know in order to be good participants in this (hopefully) ongoing democratic experiment?

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Send them to us by filling out the form below or emailing us at [email protected] with the subject line “Forum kids and politics.” We’ll feature several of your submissions in our upcoming Forum roundup.

Joel Burgess is a Voices editor for the USA TODAY Network. He lives in Asheville, North Carolina, where he worked as a reporter for more than two decades.