Why it matters who is president
I hear parents talk about their reactions to the current presidency (2025) and wonder whether the issue of who is president matters to their children. I suppose the answer has three layers, and I will use Bronfenbrenner's ecological perspective of human development to describe what I mean.
Urie Bronfenbrenner was a Russian-born, American psychologist and researcher who constructed a psychosocial model of social influences that orbited around the individual. The concept is that the individual acts upon the social influences and vice versa. The power in the reciprocal relationship is that a person is both the locus of control and still influenced by the social forces that surround them. For a more in-depth understanding of Bronfenbrenner, I encourage you to visit the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research [ https://bctr.cornell.edu/about-us/urie-bronfenbrenner ].
Microsystem
At the individual level there is the microsystem. In Bronfenbrenner's theory, the microsystem is comprised of friends, family, neighbors, and school, but also extends to people close to the family when you are born like doctors and so on. Children are exposed to conversations between family members, neighbors, and community members - even their teachers. In these conversations, they receive information and even biases based on the communication of that information. Here is where child developmental theorists like Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky might better inform how that information is processed.
The microsystem and how individuals process information
In the microsystem, the individual is the epicenter of the system. Here is where cognitive development is key but there are different theories on how the individual processes the world. Briefly, Jean Piaget suggests that the individual experiences the world and processes events internally, then interacts with the world. Lev Vygotsky, sees processing the world a little differently. He posited that people construct their understanding of events WHILE interacting with other people. Piaget believes you construct understanding in your own brain using previous experiences and schema while Vygotsky suggests you construct your understanding as you interact with others so their beliefs and opinions help the individual in building their understanding of the world around them [schema]. In that small but spectacularly important distinction also lies the distinction between micro and macro, psychology and sociology. In cognitive structuring of Piaget, one can process the world without external input - in Vygotsky's SOCIAL construction of understanding, an individual cannot process information WITHOUT the external influences.
Macrosystem
In Bronfenbrenner's macrosystem, he positions the influences of culture, economic systems, political systems, and social norms. It isn't difficult to piece together that Vygotsky loves the idea that culture and social norms influence the way we construct our understanding of the world. But this also leads us back to why who the president is becomes so important to young children/people. Marriage statistics consistently show that disagreement over finances is a leading cause of divorce in America. Moreover, conversations about how political differences because a new stressor during the holidays when families got together. When the president institutes economic and cultural policies that create an environment where families not only have to deal with unemployment but also the POSSIBILITY of unemployment - it can cause visible conflicts and stress within a family. That's why the presidency matters for young children. When families of immigrants have to be worried about, and in some cases actually deal with, a family member being abruptly and unconstitutionally deported, who the president is, matters.
Bringing it together briefly
It matters who the president is, not only because of the very real policies that person enacts that directly and indirectly affect our family, but also the way adults talk about their government and its leadership. Children and young people hear what people in their microsystem say and begin to form ideas about the government but in their own special and developmentally appropriate way. My ten year old, Oliver, has a relatively black-and-white perspective on the current president - he doesn't like him because he is doing terrible things to people. My fifteen year old also dislikes the president but with very nuanced and reasoned beliefs behind his disdain. Coincidentally, my wife and I don't usually talk about politics with our boys except to filter and explain what they see and hear around them in a way they can understand. We don't shy away from it - it just isn't a priority to talk with them about politics.
In conclusion
I think it is important during these times of political, economic, governmental, and cultural stress, that we make sure to comfort and support our children and young people - not to force them to share our own ideology - rather, it might be a great time to show our children and young people how to have disagreements and have conversations about them rather than throwing the baby out with the bathwater and losing relationships. This is what children and young people need in terms of developmentally appropriate skills: critical thinking skills, the ability to express themselves in a safe environment, support their beliefs with facts, and disagree peacefully. Parents and caregivers, and from my sons reporting, teachers, need to pay attention to how and when they are sharing their opinions and provide positive avenues and examples for supporting, defending, expressing, and disagreeing about, their beliefs.
Urie Bronfenbrenner was a Russian-born, American psychologist and researcher who constructed a psychosocial model of social influences that orbited around the individual. The concept is that the individual acts upon the social influences and vice versa. The power in the reciprocal relationship is that a person is both the locus of control and still influenced by the social forces that surround them. For a more in-depth understanding of Bronfenbrenner, I encourage you to visit the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research [ https://bctr.cornell.edu/about-us/urie-bronfenbrenner ].
Microsystem
At the individual level there is the microsystem. In Bronfenbrenner's theory, the microsystem is comprised of friends, family, neighbors, and school, but also extends to people close to the family when you are born like doctors and so on. Children are exposed to conversations between family members, neighbors, and community members - even their teachers. In these conversations, they receive information and even biases based on the communication of that information. Here is where child developmental theorists like Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky might better inform how that information is processed.
The microsystem and how individuals process information
In the microsystem, the individual is the epicenter of the system. Here is where cognitive development is key but there are different theories on how the individual processes the world. Briefly, Jean Piaget suggests that the individual experiences the world and processes events internally, then interacts with the world. Lev Vygotsky, sees processing the world a little differently. He posited that people construct their understanding of events WHILE interacting with other people. Piaget believes you construct understanding in your own brain using previous experiences and schema while Vygotsky suggests you construct your understanding as you interact with others so their beliefs and opinions help the individual in building their understanding of the world around them [schema]. In that small but spectacularly important distinction also lies the distinction between micro and macro, psychology and sociology. In cognitive structuring of Piaget, one can process the world without external input - in Vygotsky's SOCIAL construction of understanding, an individual cannot process information WITHOUT the external influences.
Macrosystem
In Bronfenbrenner's macrosystem, he positions the influences of culture, economic systems, political systems, and social norms. It isn't difficult to piece together that Vygotsky loves the idea that culture and social norms influence the way we construct our understanding of the world. But this also leads us back to why who the president is becomes so important to young children/people. Marriage statistics consistently show that disagreement over finances is a leading cause of divorce in America. Moreover, conversations about how political differences because a new stressor during the holidays when families got together. When the president institutes economic and cultural policies that create an environment where families not only have to deal with unemployment but also the POSSIBILITY of unemployment - it can cause visible conflicts and stress within a family. That's why the presidency matters for young children. When families of immigrants have to be worried about, and in some cases actually deal with, a family member being abruptly and unconstitutionally deported, who the president is, matters.
Bringing it together briefly
It matters who the president is, not only because of the very real policies that person enacts that directly and indirectly affect our family, but also the way adults talk about their government and its leadership. Children and young people hear what people in their microsystem say and begin to form ideas about the government but in their own special and developmentally appropriate way. My ten year old, Oliver, has a relatively black-and-white perspective on the current president - he doesn't like him because he is doing terrible things to people. My fifteen year old also dislikes the president but with very nuanced and reasoned beliefs behind his disdain. Coincidentally, my wife and I don't usually talk about politics with our boys except to filter and explain what they see and hear around them in a way they can understand. We don't shy away from it - it just isn't a priority to talk with them about politics.
In conclusion
I think it is important during these times of political, economic, governmental, and cultural stress, that we make sure to comfort and support our children and young people - not to force them to share our own ideology - rather, it might be a great time to show our children and young people how to have disagreements and have conversations about them rather than throwing the baby out with the bathwater and losing relationships. This is what children and young people need in terms of developmentally appropriate skills: critical thinking skills, the ability to express themselves in a safe environment, support their beliefs with facts, and disagree peacefully. Parents and caregivers, and from my sons reporting, teachers, need to pay attention to how and when they are sharing their opinions and provide positive avenues and examples for supporting, defending, expressing, and disagreeing about, their beliefs.