Parenting
Related: About this forumHelp! My 3-Year-Old Is Obsessed With Trump
*Of course, the best way to get a 3-year-old to continue doing something annoying is to try to stop her. So we bathed Donald Trump, dressed Donald Trump in his blue overalls and then gently put Donald Trump to bed next to his twin.
Doesnt Donald Trump look cozy in his new bed? I asked her as baby Donald Trump snuggled under the covers of his little trundle bed.
Mommy, Donald Trump is my best friend, she replied.
With his blinking blue eyes and small tuft of blond hair, baby Donald Trump seemed more like a joke than a threat to the world order. As Sigmund Freud theorized, by turning something threatening into a game, we rob it of its power over us. In this way, play transforms a passive experience into an active one, allowing the child to gain mastery over a threat. Yassi was onto something.
Her childish irreverence for authority made me realize the way even liberals give Mr. Trump too much importance by parsing every tweet and speaking about him in hushed tones. Its easy to feel powerless by the deluge of depressing headlines. But by subverting his authority even in subtle, silly ways, we loosen his herculean grasp on us.
One day, when Yassis father came home from work, she motioned to his ear. Can I ask you something? He obediently leaned down.
Donald Trump, she whispered triumphantly.
O.K., Yassi, lets try something else. Can you say Vladimir Putin? He winked. After all, thats whos really in charge here.
Vladimir Poopy? she asked, and then began giggling hysterically.'
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/20/opinion/donald-trump-obsession-liberal-kid.html?
'As Sigmund Freud theorized, by turning something threatening into a game, we rob it of its power over us. In this way, play transforms a passive experience into an active one, allowing the child to gain mastery over a threat. Yassi was onto something.
. . even liberals give Mr. Trump too much importance by parsing every tweet and speaking about him in hushed tones. Its easy to feel powerless by the deluge of depressing headlines. But by subverting his authority even in subtle, silly ways, we loosen his herculean grasp on us.'
PoindexterOglethorpe
(26,608 posts)Does your TV have an off switch? Really, turn the TV off. Talk to him. Talk to him about non political things. Read him books. Go to the park, the zoo, the children's museum.
If a three year old is obsessed with Trump there's clearly an imbalance in his life that you can change.
elleng
(135,796 posts)this is NOT my child. (My children are 20+ year women.)
The author: Annie Pfeifer is an assistant professor in the department of international literary and cultural studies at Tufts University.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(26,608 posts)I don't click on NYTimes articles links, because the paper is behind a firewall.