Getting children to pay attention to matters outside their playtime and entertainment can be significantly challenging. Imagine getting them to understand social issues and politics; that would be somewhat close to impossible. It will be exhausting talking about adult problems to young minds. It will also be challenging to reduce jargon to simple terms they would comprehend.
The whole process can be taxing. But this is crucial knowledge to help them understand the world they’re living in. Fortunately, author Sean Nelson has written Bungles Books, a children’s book series introducing these societal problems to a younger audience.
Why Talk to Children About Social Issues?
When they won’t even understand these concepts’ totality, why should there be a need for adults to talk to children about social issues?
Politics. Poverty. Economics.
These are “grown-up” businesses that even some adults may have trouble wrapping their minds around. Given the complexity of these subjects and the inability of children to contribute, why should they be troubled and pressured to understand them?
This is an ever-present misconception that children shouldn’t mind these issues. They’re young. Their minds should be focused on learning more accessible topics. They should be exposed to the beauty and fun side of the world, not its pessimistic nature. After all, with years away from voting, their knowledge about these troublesome concepts poses no apparent benefit to society.
See where the erroneous idea is?
Kids may be kids. But this shouldn’t exempt them from reality.
It’s never too early to educate children about social issues. As early as they can understand how the world works, adults should cultivate their interest in its systems and mechanisms.
Teaching children about these “grown-up” concepts doesn’t only prepare them for the years to come. Instead, it helps them comprehend what life is about. These matters govern most, if not everything, of life. This should be relevant enough even for the younger audience.
Curious as they are, children will have many questions about the world. They will ask why some suffer while they don’t. They will ponder on the evident hierarchies they encounter daily. And instead of shrugging them away or reducing answers to “that’s just how life is,” they must be informed and adequately educated about these.
This is where the trouble begins.
Bungles Books, Conservatism for Children to Understand
Author Sean Nelson understands the importance of informing children about these concepts. But he also recognizes the challenge adults will face in doing so. Hence, he has come up with a brilliant way to bridge the deficiency, bringing matters closer to the younger audience.
In his Bungles Books series, the author reduces the topic of conservatism for children to understand. These books capture the basics of governmental structures and present them as a children’s book storyline for its audience. The plot follows Ronald Reagan’s “three-legged stool” viewpoint consisting of fiscal responsibility, Judeo-Christian social values, and strong national defense.
All these three combined are tackles in the book, where each shows the result of liberal and conservative ideas. The Bungles Book series is broken into two parts or installments to reduce these weighty social issues better and discuss them thoroughly:
Bungles Loses His Marbles
Bungles Loses His Marbles follows the bunny Bungles as he sells delicious chocolate chip cookies in exchange for marbles. But instead of enjoying his hard-earned marbles, Willy the donkey simultaneously takes them away from him and hands them to the others to share. This gradually made not only Bungles but everyone who had been earning exhausted and discouraged. After all, if marbles were taken and given, why should they still exert the effort?
Why shouldn’t they just wait?
In his first book, Sean Nelson introduces children to economics. Through his characters, they’ll learn how behaviors change between big and small governments.
This ideology—the exchange of money and hard work—is at the center of the story. It tackles fairness while touching on the basics of how taxes and the economy work. With its simple narrative, children can easily understand what it’s meant to convey.
Bungles, Does the Bunny OP
Bungles Does the Bunny OP follows a tribe of Dodo birds living peacefully, that was, until yellow-bellied snakes attacked. Throughout the story, children will join the Dodo’s king in his attempt to make peace with these outsiders and protect the others.
They will see how he failed and what had been done to reinforce a stricter and more effective defense against the snakes. While touching on the subject of violence and aggression, the book doesn’t complicate the discussion as it still guides children to understand better what national defense entails.
In his other book, Sean Nelson dives deeper about the social issues in the world. This time, he discusses the national defense. Readers will have to confront the harsh reality that people with ill intentions exist, and they willfully desire to cause harm.
Overall, both books are easy reads, especially for their target audience. Although they may discuss serious and controversial topics, they’re presented in a way that’s comprehensible and easily digestible for children. The Bungles Books series is the perfect material to educate children about these matters.
If you’re interested in getting your children a copy of the books, visit Sean Nelson’s website or Barnes & Noble to purchase!
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