Kids who are anxious about the news might not need to hear less — they might need to know more. Tracy Kaplan, creator of The 10 News (a podcast for kids and families ages 8-12), has spent six years helping kids make sense of everything from the Russia-Ukraine war to gun violence to banned books. What she’s learned about talking to kids about hard news is useful for parents too.
Topics discussed:
Why kids’ Anxiety about the news is often rooted in a knowledge gap, not the news itself
How The 10 News covers scary topics like school shootings — and why vagueness can be worse than directness
What kids actually want to know more about (spoiler: more politics, not less)
How to cover hard stories without being condescending
The shift toward more international coverage over six years
What it looks like to watch a generation of kids grow up through the news

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Sarah & Beth Podcasters

Pantsuit Politics is a podcast for real conversations that help us understand politics, democracy, and the news - while still treating each other like thoughtful human beings. We take a different approach to the news; our political analysis blends hard facts with important social and cultural undercurrents so you don’t miss the big picture. Over years of discussing everything from abortion to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we established basic rules of engagement, which we describe in our books, Now What? How to Move Forward When We’re Divided (About Basically Everything) (2022) and I Think You’re Wrong (But I’m Listening): A Guide to Grace-Filled Political Conversation (2019). Listeners describe us as “America’s political therapists” and “our trusted, smarter friends who can help us make sense of the world.”