Well, He Won. What Do I Tell My Kid?

When my eight-year-old woke up this morning, she asked "Did she win?"

Photo by Kedar Gadge on Unsplash

“Did she win?” said my eight-year-old this morning, quietly rubbing her eyes.

“No,” I told her in response.

“Oh,” she said, before putting her head back on her pillow. My wife gave her a hug.

While I sipped on coffee, grateful I’d avoided a hangover after whiskey and Dragon Age, my daughter turned and asked why she lost. “I don’t know,” I said, which was true then but less true now, hours later and with a better understanding of the votes.

Yesterday, I wrote about struggling to explain the moment, and Trump, to her. My daughter brought up Trump’s mass deportation plan, because a classmate mentioned it. Explaining immigration policy is a tough one, and by the end of the night, my daughter concluded it’d impact us. She asked if we’d lose our house if Trump won.

The morning after the election, as my daughter munched on a bagel, this idea came up again at the kitchen table. This time, though, she started worrying that Trump would take one of her friends at school "because he's from somewhere else.” I don’t know where “somewhere else” is. He might’ve moved from the town over, for all I know.

"Kiddo, I am sure they will be okay,” I told her, “but the reason Mom and Dad are sad today is because you and others shouldn't have to worry about stuff like that.”