One of the challenges we’ve faced during the pandemic is keeping children up-to-date with global developments without making them feel scared or anxious. How do we strike a balance between helping children to stay informed, and protecting their hopefulness and well-being?
Measures like limiting media intake and explaining issues in conversation go a long way towards making kids feel safer as they tackle difficult issues. However, connecting children with positive news sources that help them see different perspectives is one of the best ways to fuel their natural curiosity while minimizing the negative impacts of tricky stories.
Read on to find out how giving your child access to happy news can shape their learning for the better.
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Happy News Inspires Children
Research has demonstrated that ‘constructive news’ is much more likely to inspire engagement in children than non-constructive news. When children read stories that propose solutions to global issues, or shine a light on the work carried out by activists and scientists, they are less likely to feel negative emotions, and more likely to feel inspired and uplifted. As well as providing children with role models, these stories can present learners with the idea that even the most difficult issues can be tackled proactively. What better way could there be to encourage Active Coping?
Look for news sources that bring innovations made by scientists, politicians, and other individuals to the foreground. For example, when we write about climate change, we write highlight the ‘Forest Man of India’ because we believe that it is vital to show children solutions alongside problems. Happy, constructive news stories like this can inspire confidence, optimism, and proactivity in your children, without avoiding the most important subjects.
Happy News Gives Children a More Complete View
Whether to gather more clicks or to cast light on contemporary problems, modern media often focuses on the negative. While it’s important to acknowledge and discuss problems, this focus can skew our perspective of the world only towards its challenges. Introducing children to positive news gives them a more complete view of the world. We can expand their awareness beyond the media cycle of negativity and alarm. Children who read positive news gain a more panoramic understanding of the world, avoiding the tunnel vision that problems-oriented news can unintentionally induce.
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Happy News Makes Non-fiction Reading Exciting
Non-fiction reading can bring a host of benefits for children. It boosts curriculum learning across a range of subjects, consolidates literacy development, and encourages skills like critical thinking and analysis. However, children can quickly be alienated by news media if it only introduces them to scary, alarming stories. Positive news is therefore a great way to give kids the benefits of reading news without running the risk of damaging their enthusiasm.
We believe that news has the potential to foster wonderment, curiosity, and awe. Non-fiction reading doesn’t have to be about the gloom or grey of broadsheets; it can be fun, intriguing, and educational.
Happy News for Children: Where to Find It
With so many sources of information available, finding positive news sources can be tricky. Here are a few sources of happy news that we really love.
The Happy Newspaper
The Happy Newspaper foregrounds uplifting stories and remarkable people. Bursting with colour and life, this quarterly print paper can be a great source of joyful non-fiction reads.
Positive News
Written for adults but with some great content for family discussion, Positive News focuses its stories on solutions and progress. This ‘constructive journalism’ approach can encourage optimism and proactivity in learners.
Rockerbox News
Our stories are not only positive, but also intriguing and global. We believe that children thrive when they have an extensive, broad perspective of the world at large. Rockerbox News happy news isn’t just about boosting mood and curiosity, but also about widening children’s understanding.
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You!
Research by Common Sense Media suggests that children’s primary source of news information is parents and family. Reading some of the above news sources with your child allows you to be vigilant towards their reactions, and discuss any difficult or confusing issues in a safe way. You know your kids best, and that’s why we designed our learning too to facilitate shared reading and discussion together as a family.
To sum up…
Now more than ever, it’s vital to connect children with positive news. Positive news uplifts children, and encourages long-term interest in non-fiction as well as proactivity towards even the biggest of problems. Happy news is a great way to supplement curriculum learning and to widen children’s perspectives beyond what the traditional media cycle can offer. With so much doom and gloom in the news, children deserve to hear stories that empower and excite them.
Download the free Rockerbox News app today to show your kids how uplifting and fun the news can be.
