Election 2016: Children Are Paying Attention, Expert Says

Immigration, terrorism, religion, scandal. There are three weeks before the November 8th election. Have you spoken to your children about what is going on?

β€œIt’s challenging,” said Annette Boelter, mother of a third grader, a junior high school student and a high school student.

Psychologist and San Diego School Board member Dr. John Lee Evans said, β€œWe absolutely need to talk to our children,” no matter what the grade level.

β€œYou don't need to overexpose them to things they may not know about, but that's why the first question is what do you know about what's going on. What have you heard?”

Evans said children are paying attention. They are hearing about the election, and some may be frightened.

β€œWe might be picked up in the middle of the night, taken away from our home, our religion may not be allowed anymore in this country, things like that. They don't realize one person doesn't have all the power,” Evans said.

Parents say they have used the election for teaching moments.

β€œWe do talk about it,” said Boelter. β€œWe talk about how the choices you make now affect you later.”

She added, β€œhaving boys, teaching them to respect women is really important.”

This presidential more than prior races is playing out on social media and students have access to that through mobile devices.

Donald Trump dominated the Twitter conversation Thursday surrounding the third and final presidential debate.

Twitter says that the Republican nominee was the subject of nearly 60 percent of the tweets sent about the candidates.

The social media platform says the top tweeted moment was Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's discussion about treatment of women. The second most tweeted was Trump's refusal to say if he'll accept the results of the election should he lose.

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