This topic comes up somewhat regularly here. If you have kids, what can you do to at least give them the best shot at understanding and embracing your communist / Marxist / dialectical materialist views? We usually come up with a couple big picture ideas, but over the last few weeks I’ve been jotting down very specific, concrete actions you can take. This list is not meant to exhaustive - I’m hoping you all have great ideas to share, too. But this is what I’ve come up with so far:
(And to clarify something, I’m 100% convinced to do need to be somewhat intentional and didactic about your values and views if you want your kids to share them. To think “I’m just going to let them find their own way, I don’t want to influence them” is 1,000% lib shit. I’m not even sure most liberals think that way.)
Be a good parent: This one seems obvious, but it’s so important it bears repeating and should be at the top of the list. You should be a good, involved parent for a number of reasons anyway. But, if you want your kids to share your views, being a good parent is the #1 way to encourage that. Or at least, being a shitty parent is a surefire way to make sure your kids rebel against everything you care about
Get organized: Get involved in an org, even if it’s something like DSA. It can be an actual org like PSL or even just helping feed homeless folks in your town. Your kids can see how you have a great grasp of reality thanks to materialism, which might make them inclined to think you know what you’re talking about. But if they know you see the problems in the world, but aren’t doing anything to change that world… I can see how some kids might see that as kinda hyprocritical.
Learn history, especially from a materialist perspective: This is easy for me because I love history, even long before I was a Marxist. But if you don’t enjoy history, I think you should at least push yourself and try to understand at least the materialist history behind what your kids will learn in school (so for American kids, making sure you understanding things like how the constitution was formed, how African-Americans have been held down throughout history, etc.). Especially if you are American, this is easy because most Americans are dumb as shit when it comes to history, and K-12 history teachers aren’t much better. If your kids see that you know what you’re talking about, they will largely trust your analysis. So when your kid hears in class that “the US fought the Korean War because the Soviets wanted to take over”, they will know to come to you and ask if that’s true - because they know you likely have a much more thorough and accurate answer.
For little kids, read history books to them: Right now my kid loves Nelson Mandela, because we have a couple books about him. I happen to believe that fostering a love of history can definitely help point kids in the right direction (even if by itself it probably won’t turn them commie). Just make sure it’s “good” history and not just that crap that glazes the founding fathers.
For older kids, engage with them on what they’re learning in school: Good idea for all subjects, but especially for the social sciences. Ask questions. Be genuinely interested. While like said above, you need to be didactic but older kids especially aren’t going to want to hear you rant about how Stalin saved the world from fascism for 15 minutes every time he comes up. Know when to just ask and listen with them.
Stay on top of current affairs: Keep up with the News Mega! All the stuff I said above about history applies to news & current events.
Play some commie podcasts when you’re in the car with them: I feel like I might get push back on this, so let me explain. When I was a kid, my parents had news radio on whenever we were in the car. And even if I didn’t understand what was always being talked about, I know for a fact I absorbed a ton of information passively that way. I believe that is a big reason I’m as interested in what’s going on in the wider world today. I know we’re generally down on leftist podcast but the reality is there’s a ton of good content out there.
Try to have answers ready for when kids ask about what you believe: I think especially for younger kids, it’s good to have simple answers ready that they can understand. And don’t worry about being precisely correct in your response. When your kid asks “are we republicans or democrats?” or “do you vote for republicans or democrats, keeping in mind they may have a hard time understanding a complicated response. Say something like “I vote for whoever helps poor people or immigrants or people who work for a living”. That’s much better than trying to explain the drawbacks of electoralism to a 7 year old. Obviously you can be more detailed and precise with older kids.
Try and have leftist adult friends who also have kids: Believe me, I get how hard this. It’s nearly impossible to find any broadly leftist parents in my area, much less those who have time for socializing. So this is more of an ideal to try and reach, not a concrete action. But I think having some friends around who share your views - and have kids who can befriend your kids - is very effective. Just hard to pull off.
Push back hard against any transphobia or homophobia: Whether you see it IRL or in media, don’t hesitate to be clear with your kids what being LGBTQ is about and that anyone who against LGBTQ rights sucks. I say this because I was raised in an environment very hostile to LGBTQ people. Just the other day, my kid wanted her two Barbie dolls to get married. For a fraction of second, there was that old voice in the back of my head saying “they’re too young to understand”. But of course they’re not, and I explained how of course two Barbies can get married. Kids DO need to understand the validity of LGBTQ identities at a very young age.
If you’re white, teaching anti-racism is important: Because if you’re white, it’s incredibly easy to fall into the trap of “well I’m not racist and no other white people I know are racist, so racism must be over”. It’s easy because white society pushes this notion so hard. You absolute have to teach kids about systematic racism and how they actually do need to stand up to racist pricks, because they will encounter them.
That’s the list I have so far, would love to hear your additions.
A lot of this seems like good advice but to drill down on the podcasts point, what specifically are you thinking of?
Off the top off my head, Blowback and Citations Needed are probably fine, but I’d feel like a bad father playing less “aesthetically liberal” communist podcasts in front of my kid (trillbillies, deprogram, trueanon all come to mind as good shows that are sometimes (or even regularly) way too crude for children).
I’d play TrueAnon for kids before i’d do blowback. Brace and Liz are crude, rude weirdos, but some of their shows are fairly lighthearted while blowback is frequently horrifying.
Old street fight episodes might work because it’s often weird old guys shooting the shit and being charming.
Honestly, i think it’s fine for kids to cuss and know about sex and drugs and bad music, but kids need to be at least 12 before they’ve got anything like the emotional resilience to start digging in to the holocaust and us foreign policy.
Citations needed is a good one, though. It’s all about being clever and knowing when the adults are lying and i think that would appeal to a certain kind of serious minded kid.
Maybe try not-explicitly leftist pods that analyze movies, games, and culture? If you can find a pod with okayish politics breaking down themes in the latest marvel slop or talking about the nitty gritty of something happening in Roblox the kids might relate to that.
What about pods on trains, planes, and automobiles? An interest in heavy industry is a decent oblique way to get kids interested in economics, and from there politics.
The thing about Trueanon is that I don’t need my kid doing ironic anti-Polish bigotry or whatever. I also think that Trueanon content can be pretty heavy, The Game was amazing but it’s about a widespread industrial child abuse industry that remains in operation to this day, you know? But I get how Blowback is a lot.
I honestly don’t know anything about Street Fight maybe I’ll check that one out.
Also, we’re pretty frank with our kid when he asks about body part stuff, don’t use genital euphemisms or anything (although he invented one himself “the bag” which is pretty funny), talk about cusswords as “at home only words” as long as they’re not insults or slurs, etc, but I also don’t need him getting in trouble at school for making proctology jokes at the wrong person, or thinking alcoholism is cool because of Yugopnik or whatever.
Left-ish stuff, maybe, I’d have to branch out myself first.
We need a bridge between the dirtbag left, the respectable left, and kids. Like a pod that does fart jokes and explains how homework is actively counter-productive to learning then.
I think there’s plenty of “serious” podcasts. To name a few: Already Existing Socialism, Cosmopod, The Measures Taken, Rev Left, Varn Vlog. But I do lots of others than are not explicitly commie, like Means Morning News, Electronic Intifada (my kid asks really good questions about Gaza), Red Nation, Citations Needed, Macro & Cheese, and others.
But like Frank said, I’m not too worried about the crass factor too much. I don’t listen to TrueAnon or Chapo. Deprogram I think is more or less fine. I’ve already played Trillbillies for them and my kid loves them honestly. I think my kid picks up on the fact they are friends and that they have a nice conversational style to them.
guerilla history, rev left radio, ben norton’s show, the michael hudson/radhika desai show are all good. bret sometimes goes nuclear in rev left radio but mostly the above is thoughtful and strident without being dirtbag