Would/could you have held your tongue?

Something that ignorant and uninformed doesnt deserve a response.
Plus it’s just a child. If we correct every incorrect thing a child says we’ll not have any time for anything else.

I’d ignore it, but I’d tell my children Obama has never killed anyone.

Get really close to them…close enough to whisper in their ear….and tell them in the spookiest & deliberately slow whisper you can, “Your momma eats babies.”

I’d tell them later that it’s not true – but if they got into an argument about it (how old are my kids anyway? It would depend) I might step in and offer a correction right then and say that ‘that kind of hateful crap ain’t gonna fly around this home, kids’

I’d tell my child later that it was not true, and that America would not allow someone who killed someone else to be president. Their friend must have been mistaken.

If I were you I would address what the child said to my boys, to my boys. I would explain how you feel on the subject of abortion. You have no right correcting another child on such an issue. It is not your place.

Besides, for some abortion does equate to murder and those who support it are no less guilty than the ones committing it. The child was correct, according to that viewpoint, in what he said to your boys.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Nothing hateful in holding the belief that abortion is murder. Sorry to disappoint you. Someone many commit hateful acts in support of that belief- murdering doctors who perform abortions or protesting with some of the rude and hate filled signs I have seen, but the simple belief that abortion is murder is not hateful in and of itself.

I doubt they would get in an argument. I don’t think the kid really understands the concept; he’s just imitating what his parents tell him. I probably would just keep quiet about it and wait for the kids to be old enough to understand politics. Obviously if they asked questions about it, I would be honest, but I wouldn’t make a big deal out of this.

When I hear my kids and their friends talking about things in an unbalanced way (sometimes) I jump into the conversation and get more information with questions. (In this particular situation I wouldn’t assume the 2nd grader understood that ‘killing babies” meant abortion.) Where did you hear that? Why do they think that? I don’t confront their thinking, I find out more about it. Then, I let the conversation fade, they would probably rather play anyway.

Later, when alone with my children, I would talk over with them how they feel and think about what their friend said. At that point I might bring up information I think is missing.

Violence begets violence so I had to edit my original answer.

I like very much what @liminal said. Next time I hear an adult telling a little kid a hideous untruth – no matter how sincerely – I’ll just ask for more information, and then slide away.

But it does hurt.

That sucks. He’s the president. Such ignorance.

@susanc I agree. It does hurt.

@Silhouette, obviously kids don’t need to know whether Obama has killed anyone, but it’s naive to think he hasn’t okayed airstrikes and the like.

I guess if a child is spouting nonsense in public, they’re fair game for education. If a parent is going to teach a child lies, they should also teach the child to keep the lies a secret if they don’t want to be “corrected” when in public. Children will say anything their parent tells them to anyone at all, unless specifically told not to.

So I guess I might engage in a dialogue with the child. I could try reasoning with them, but I doubt that would work, since people who believe these kinds of things tend to be people who argue from authority, not data. So if you tried to ask the child why they believed it, they’d say because their parents told them so. You’re not going to get anywhere unless you are providing a long term education, and no parent who believed that kind of nonsense would put their child in a school that taught science.

So your alternative is to tell them what they have learned is a lie and isn’t true. But then they have to decide whether to believe you or their parents. Guess who will win that fight?

Strategically speaking, I think it’s best to do nothing except to talk to your own children and try to explain why someone might believe such nonsense. It’s not the child’s fault. It’s the parents’ fault. Not much anyone can do about that.

I agree with @Simone_De_Beauvoir…tell them later that it’s not true (unless you believe it is true).

@kevbo Is ordering an airstrike the same thing as “believing in killing babies”? Do all the people who support this and every other war ever fought all “believe in killing babies.” Have you or someone you know signed up to “kill a baby”? Are you proud of them for keeping America free by “killing babies”?

I think getting more information is important because I am involved in the long term education of my children. Even if the child says to me “Because mom and dad said so” I better understand the home that might invite my child to dinner and I show my children how to consider the things people say rather than simply accepting, dismissing, or arguing. When I talk with my children later we will discuss what kind of source “because my parents said so” is.

When my children listen to their peers and teachers I want their first impulses to be “why”, “how do I better understand”, and “is this something I can agree with”. I think modeling such behavior lays a good foundation for critical thinking.

@Silhouette Actually, @kevbo is correct. Obama is a baby killer in that he is the commander-in-chief of our armed forces, and we have killed many babies since Obama has been in office.

However, the children do not need to be exposed to this.

@davidbetterman Do you really think Obama “believes in killing babies?” Don’t you think he’d rather all the babies were out of harms way before the bombs were dropped? In a perfect world all the civilians would come equipped with bomb deflectors. Personally I’m a pacifist and object to war in general, but I’m not so naive as to think they don’t happen and innocent people aren’t killed during them. As to whether or not the children need to be exposed to it I have to disagree again. The children were already talking about the issue and if I were their mother I’d do my best to paint a more accurate picture for my kids. Keeping your children ignorant of the real world and the savagery in it doesn’t keep them safe.

@Silhouette Sorry, but of course he does. Why else would he order actions that cause their death? It is naive to think otherwise.

@davidbetterman I must be naive because I don’t believe he wants to kill the children, I don’t think the soldiers want to kill the children, I don’t believe all the people who support this and every other war want to kill the children. I believe most people want to protect the children. I believe most of my fellowmen are pretty decent people.

Why are these children talking about this to begin with?

Before I read all the responses I will share my reaction. First, I heard my son mention that we saw Obama give a speech here in our town (which we did) and that he said nothing about killing babies. I looked at the young man and said “Obama does not kill babies.” I then spoke to my children privately about it. FYI we live in a pretty conservative area and since the campaign my children have been sharing lots of falsehoods about Obama. They have heard everything from him wanting to kill old people to him wanting to make children go to school year round with no break. This all from their peers.

It isn’t just Obama. All American presidents in wartime have ordered the death of babies. They didn’t directly say, “Go kill babies.” But they knew that their orders to carpet bomb the Nam, or to strafe Baghdad would kill many innocents, including children. This knowledge did not prevent them from issuing those orders.

@davidbetterman would you say that culpability also extends to the individuals who vote for leaders, and sometimes mandate, that their president be willing to go to war?

@liminal If the shoe fits…
Those paying taxes are funding it all.

@rahm_sahriv The kids aren’t hateful – they have no clue what they’re saying, they’re just saying what their parents are spewing on them – and their parents are at best misinformed and at most hateful for thinking that Obama is about that, specifically.

@Silhouette, my apologies. I was responding to what you said as opposed to what you meant.

@kevbo I appreciate the thought but you don’t owe me an apology.

Whoops. Posted twice.

Yeah, I forget that women frequntly conflate the disparity.

@kevbo now you owe me and every other woman an apology. LOL

I figure 35 years of apologizing is plenty ;-)

@kevbo Yeah, you’re good to go. :o)

I’d let it slide. After all, he does support abortion, a process that kills babies. The kid’s statement is an oversimplification of a very thorny issue.

If you accept the premise fetuses are babies, and pro-choicers don’t agree with that statement. People will never, ever all agree on this one.

@cockswain I don’t see how anybody could honestly believe that fetuses aren’t people.

And that is why there is a controversy in this subject.