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4 Current Affairs Podcasts for Curious Children

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Daily, biweekly and weekly shows deliver kids the news at their level, and help contextualize the world around them.
By Phoebe Lett

What do children make of the day’s headlines? The endless deluge of news is staggering and tough to get a handle on, even for grown-ups. And with disinformation packaged as journalism rampant on social media, there is an urgent need to help kids tell the difference between truth and propaganda. These news podcasts are perfect for young people seeking a better understanding of what the adults are fussing about and for parents who want to help their children learn how to engage critically with the world around them.

Want to develop a daily news habit in your children? “KidNuz” is what NPR’s “Up First” might sound like if its target audience was 14 and under. Without any of the whacky bells and entrancing whistles that can often give children’s programming a cartoonish quality, the broadcast journalists behind this podcast deliver accessible summaries of the news of the day. Every weekday morning, expect a seven-minute episode filled with age-appropriate stories from the world of politics, science, sports and entertainment. Each report ends with a flash quiz on the details delivered in the episode to encourage close listening, and the website features plenty of resources for educators and parents to keep the learning going.

In 10 minutes or less, the episodes of this current affairs show feature “the stuff grown-ups are talking about, explained, and way more fun.” “The Ten News” tackles things like Supreme Court nominations, the Postal Service, presidential debates, poll worker shortages and the gender pay gap in sports. The host, Bethany Van Delft, breaks down the topic du jour to the basics, giving preteens the background they need to understand why that day’s news matters as well as the context to better help them develop informed opinions of their own. New episodes air every Tuesday and Thursday.

IN HER WORDS: Where women rule the headlines.

In each weekly episode, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reporter Ruby Cornish counts down five news stories with the aid of preschoolers whom she calls her “news helpers.” While the show focuses mostly on the lighter headlines for 6-year-olds and under (think awesome animals and young inventors), it also offers deft summaries of the world’s more serious stories. But the show’s real strength is in how it lets kids explain the big news of the day from their own points of view. For example, in June, “News Time” gave a breakdown of the Black Lives Matter protests that was delivered by the news helpers themselves, who explained in their own words what the words protest, racism and movement mean to them. The show still manages to be full of silliness and surprise and encourages curiosity in the world around young ones.

How do you raise a judicious consumer of journalism in the golden age of misinformation? You get a sassy robot to host a fact-or-fiction game show, of course. Every week on “The Big Fib,” a show for ages 7 to 12, the robot L.I.S.A. (“Live In-Studio Audience”) and Deborah Goldstein, the show’s co-host and executive producer, introduce a young contestant of the week to two adults, both claiming to be experts in a particular subject. But one is an impostor. The players must weigh the information given to them, ask smart questions and use reasoning skills to determine who is the real expert and who is the liar. The podcast, previously known as “Pants on Fire,” keeps the subject matter fun and family-friendly. Topics have included “Bread,” “Hip Hop,” “Puzzles” and a perennial kid favorite, “Toilets,” in which a 9-year-old named Theo has to figure out whether a civil engineer named Gloria really created a solar-powered toilet, or if the other grown-up in the hot seat, Joe, is really an expert plumber. It’s a goofy premise that nevertheless shows children how to be good skeptics and equips them with the critical-thinking tools they need to interpret the world around them.

WATCH — How this autistic teen stays focused while learning online

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High school student staying home to protect family from coronavirus

Clara Kirby-McIntosh relies on her routines to help her meet her goals.

Now, because of COVID-19, the 18-year-old is doing her final year of high school online at home in Mississauga, Ontario.

Because she’s autistic, she’s had to find new ways to keep up her routine or she’ll fall behind.

“I can already tell [this] is going to be a major struggle for me this year.”    – Clara Kirby-McIntosh

Clara’s mom and dad both have diabetes.

Their immune systems are compromised, which makes them at risk of a more serious illness if they get COVID-19.

“It’s not a risk I could take,” she said about the idea of doing school in-person.

But changing to at-home learning has made it harder to keep up some of those routines that matter to her.

Watch Clara’s video on what it’s like to learn from home during COVID-19:

Laying out a plan for the day

To stay on track, Clara recently discovered that Picture Exchange Communication (PEC) cards help her plan her day.

They’re a tool some kids on the autism spectrum use to help communicate and organize their needs and feelings.

A schedule with items like, makeup, skin care, study, law class, lunch

Clara’s PEC cards have velcro on the back so she can move them around, depending on what her routine needs to be on any given day. (Image submitted by Clara Kirby-McIntosh)

But there are other challenges that have been harder to overcome.

For Clara, it’s hard to learn new ideas quickly and she needs time to let thoughts sink in.

But because of COVID-19, many high school schedules have changed to be more fast-paced.

Clara started the term taking two classes each day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

After a few days, she decided to drop one due to the workload.

“I can already tell that is going to be a major struggle for me this year,” she said.

Making friends online

Clara misses having lunch with her friends and seeing them in school.

But she has made new study groups with her online classmates.

Her parents have also said it will still be safe for her to see some of her friends if they wear masks and stay physically distant.

A teen sitting at a desk with a computer

Clara’s desk is in her bedroom, right beside her bed. (Image submitted by Clara Kirby-McIntosh)

Class of COVID-19

It’s not how Clara expected her last year of high school to go.

“It sucks not being able to have my senior year like I normally would,” she said.

“But things are different. And there’s not really anything we can do about it.”

4 Questions To Gauge Your Kid’s Mental Health During The COVID-19 Pandemic

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Small tweaks to what and how you ask can give you a true sense of how your child is actually coping — beyond “yes,” “no” and fine.”
Catherine Pearson

Kids have been through a lot since the COVID-19 pandemic began: school closures, massive changes to how they socialize and unrelenting uncertainty about what comes next.

Fortunately, mental health experts are quick to note, children are, on the whole, resilient. But there are plenty who are struggling. In one study, 60% of teens said they’re feeling lonely and 50% said they’re feeling anxious. Up to one-third of parents say they’ve noticed their children’s mental health get worse since March.

There are many ways parents and caregivers can help children cope with the pandemic and everything it has brought about. One of the simplest is just to ask. But those conversations can be difficult, particularly if they’re new for your family or if your child isn’t particularly talkative.

Here are four simple, expert-recommended questions to get you started.

1. What do you think about what’s happening right now?

“Parents have to keep in mind that kids aren’t necessarily thinking about everything that is happening right now in the exact same way they’re thinking about it,” explained Jill Emanuele, clinical director of the Child Mind Institute’s Mood Disorders Center. “It’s really important to start with general, open questions.”

So just ask your child what they think or feel about what is happening right now. Maybe don’t even mention the COVID-19 pandemic.

Part of what this kind of broad question — and others like it — does well is help give you a sense of what your child thinks he or she knows about what’s happening in the world around them. If they’ve picked up false information, this can be a good way to talk to them about it. You can also be honest with them about what you don’t know.

2. How do you think your friends are dealing with everything?

Some kids might respond really openly to big, open-ended questions. Others might not have much to say at all. For those children in particular, it can be helpful to use their friends — or maybe even characters from a TV show they like — to back into the conversation, said Isaiah Pickens, a clinical psychologist and the CEO of iOpening Enterprises.

“You can say, ‘How do you think your friends feel about the coronavirus?’” he suggested.

Another variation of this tactic can be to gather your family — whatever your family looks like — and say something like, “Hey, let’s have a group conversation. How are we all doing with this right now?”

“If you frame it as a family conversation, the ‘heat’ is not all on the kid,” said Emanuele.

The bottom line is that some kids aren’t big talkers. That’s OK, but it doesn’t mean you should totally give up. Try and sneak it in however you can, Emanuele said — maybe not daily, or even weekly, but definitely try. She also noted that if your child used to be really responsive to conversations and now they are much more reserved, that’s something to pay attention to.

3. I’m feeling [try a bunch of different adjectives here]. How about you?

While open-ended questions are valuable — and you certainly don’t want to fall into the trap of projecting your fears and feelings on your child — it can be helpful to lead with yourself, both experts said. It helps normalize the fact that people are coping with a lot of different feelings right now. Just keep it age and developmentally appropriate.

When you start by identifying how you’re feeling, it can really help to have a lot of adjectives at your disposal, particularly if your child is younger and is just learning how to identify and put words to what they are feeling, Pickens said.

“What’s making you feel worried/nervous/excited/embarrassed to talk about?” he offered as an example.

You want to make room for your child to open up to you about different experiences and emotions, and to use a variety of language so you can help them translate what they are experiencing internally.

4. What’s got you excited right now? What are you really loving?

Another way to get a sense of how well your child is coping right now is to ask them about what they’re enjoying. You’re really getting at: How is my child coping? Pickens explained.

You could ask: “What’s giving you energy?” he said. “What’s making you happy?”

Those types of questions are also a good barometer of your child’s current mental and emotional well-being, and whether they are in any kind of distress. Parents should be on the lookout for sustained changes in their behavior, including diminished enthusiasm for activities and things they once loved.

“Any change in behavior or routine that’s not like your child and that seems like it is becoming a pattern is a red flag,” Emanuele said.

How to keep kids active as the weather cools and the pandemic rolls on

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By Joanna Pearlstein

Let’s just get this out of the way: Don’t feel guilty. That’s the advice experts offer to parents who are worrying about how to keep their kids fit during the coronavirus pandemic, especially as the days get shorter, the weather begins to cool and options for playing outside diminish. Although the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children get at least 60 minutes of activity a day, when recess is canceled and PE is online, that may not be feasible for many families.

“We have to assume everyone’s plate is extremely full, and we have to give parents some grace,” says Hildi Nicksic, clinical assistant professor of kinesiology at Texas A&M University in College Station, Tex. “We understand there’s a lot of pressure, particularly if their children have not returned to school and they’re wearing so many more hats than they usually do.”

The good news: Children are resilient, says Sofiya Alhassan, associate professor and director of the Pediatric Physical Activity Laboratory at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. “It’s really important not to feel guilty. You have to do what you have to do, without feeling guilty about it.”

That said, physicians say physical activity gives kids energy, reduces body fat, decreases a child’s chances of developing diabetes, and builds muscle, bone, and joint strength, among other benefits. And parents may find that getting their children to move around improves family dynamics. Alhassan, the mom of twin 5-year-olds, notices that her kids tend to argue more when they don’t have outdoor time. “There’s a lot of research to support the impact of physical activity on behavior during non-covid times,” she says. “Kids who are allowed to be physically active during school have better behavior in class, they learn better, they are less hyperactive. Now that we’re stuck inside, there are going to be more mood swings, more arguing.”

Exercise may not only reduce bickering; it can also help with kids’ academic performance. “We know activity is good not only for physical well-being, but also for mental health, focus and attention,” says Korin Hudson, a sports medicine and ER physician who teaches at Georgetown’s medical school and practices in McLean, Va. “For kids with ADHD, activity is really crucial to them in helping keep their focus; staying focused on the screen, where kids are spending so much time, tends to be even harder to maintain.” Most families don’t have access to a playground, but even a few minutes of moving around can be helpful, Hudson says.

Providing opportunities for movement doesn’t have to involve expensive exercise equipment or yet more screen time. Hudson suggests creating a grab jar: Write down exercises — 10 burpees, 20 jumping jacks, holding a plank for 30 seconds, to name a few — on small pieces of paper and put them in a jar. Ask everyone in the family (yes, including parents) to grab a piece of paper and then do the indicated move.

Families that lack outdoor space or aren’t able to take their children outside frequently might turn common household chores into games, says Alhassan. “Ask kids, ‘What can we do to get our energy up? Can you help me fold clothes, then jump really high?’”

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Children can also incorporate physical activity directly into their learning. Adrien McDonald, director of athletics and physical education at the McLean School in Potomac, suggests children try shooting baskets while spelling out words. They can do squats at their desk, stretch while reading a book or substitute a one-pound weight for a fidget spinner. (Don’t have a one-pound weight? Try a can of beans.) Another option: Send your children on a scavenger hunt to find items in your house. “It could be, ‘Bring me back something yellow, or bring me back your favorite picture that best describes you,’” McDonald says. Or ask them to race to collect items whose names begin with a certain letter of the alphabet. Then, as a sanity-preservation measure, have a competition to see how quickly they can put all of the found treasures away.

Turning parts of the house into a playground has worked for Danielle and AndrĂ© Bierzynski, who live in the District’s Southwest Waterfront neighborhood with their two daughters, 6 and 2. AndrĂ© has built obstacle courses out of couch cushions for their younger daughter. “Even just walking her up and down the stairs is actually enjoyable for her, and it’s exercise,” he says.

Although their older daughter’s parochial school has resumed in-person instruction, the Bierzynskis have opted to keep her learning at home, which means both parents are working while simultaneously trying to keep their daughters occupied. When they can’t go for walks, the Bierzynskis use yoga videos, a small trampoline and a small basketball hoop to keep the girls moving.

The Bierzynskis’ older daughter also has a fitness tracker that’s designed for children. “It’s become kind of a competition for her; she’s monitoring it herself, and you’ll see her running in circles or up and down the stairs to hit her goals,” says Danielle. She and her husband also have found that their children take notice when they ride their Peloton bike. “The kids know when we are carving out our time for exercise, and it gives them a bit of a jolt. It motivates them,” AndrĂ© says.

Being a role model can not only prompt kids to exercise, but it can also spur them to do things they haven’t tried before. Francine Delgado-Lugo lives in the Brooklyn borough of New York, where she co-owns a personal training gym. After the pandemic began, she and her business partners began making fitness videos for their clients. Delgado-Lugo’s then-9-year-old son, Malachi, was inspired to make his own set of videos, filmed in his mother’s fitness studio, to share with his fellow fourth-graders. “It was a great activity for him,” she says. “He wrote the notes, he narrated the video, and he demonstrated the movements, and I did them alongside him.” Some moves, such as squats and lunges, were things Malachi had seen his mother do at the gym, and others were things he felt kids would want to do. “We found a way to foster creativity and movement together,” Delgado-Lugo says. “It was so much fun.”

It’s crucial to maintain that engagement with kids, says McDonald, the athletic director at the McLean School. “If the kids have buy-in, it makes the pandemic feel a bit easier to manage. When they feel like their voice is being heard, it makes exercise a more enjoyable experience.” After all, if it’s not fun, children may try to opt out, especially in the privacy of their own homes, without the encouragement and company of their peers, and with the “stop video” button beckoning on their laptop or tablet.

In some cases, the development of intrinsic motivation may require some parental help. For example, if a parent wants to take a child hiking, the parent might tell the child she can choose a place to eat lunch afterward, Nicksic says. “The hope is that the kid enjoys themselves, and the next time you ask, they can remember they had a good time last time, and they’ll want to go again. The reason extrinsic motivation is necessary is that if the intrinsic motivation was there, you wouldn’t need to change the behavior, because the individual would have already done it.”

Tips to keep kids moving

  • Rubber resistance bands are inexpensive, occupy almost no space and let kids do strength-training moves indoors.
  • Attach a retractable net to your dining room table, and presto: table tennis! (Watch out for chandeliers.)
  • Replace your kid’s fidget spinner with a one-pound weight or even a can of beans.
  • For yoga, families recommend the Cosmic Kids YouTube channel and app.
  • An app called Sworkit lets you build your own workout, based on duration and type of exercise; it offers kid-specific options.
  • If your child is an extrovert, invite them to make their own fitness video to share with friends.
  • Send your kids on a scavenger hunt to find specific types of items in your house. Then, make them race to put it all back.
  • Write down exercises on small pieces of paper. Put them in a jar, and let family members choose from the jar. Everyone (yes, everyone) has to do the selected activity.
  • Build an obstacle course out of couch cushions or cardboard boxes.

Joanna Pearlstein (@jopearl) is a writer and editor in San Francisco whose work has appeared in WIRED, the New York Times and the COVID Tracking Project.

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