I can imagine

Yes. And had it not been in the context of "ask me anything" then the best way to respond (imo) is full socratic method. "Well what do you think?" "You think there is a guy who goes around all over the world visiting the homes of children and dropping off presents? How would that work? Do you think there might be a simpler explanation?..etc etc. With the objective of getting them to think critically.

Then there is the opposite approach--the "I don't want to stifle a child's imagination so let them believe whatever they want" approach.
After having this same discussion with a friend she sent me this. I don't know the exact context of the letter or how old the recipient was when she received it (she's 16 now and her mom passed away from brain cancer last year). But needless to say, encouraging people to believe whatever they want is not encouraging critical thinking--and that's basically made explicit in that letter "there are theories and stories to explain almost everything in life and my advice is don't solve the mystery". Sigh...

And I've been emotionally scarred ever since.

Well said.

Take the New York Times quiz, how good are you at being poor?

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...rden-quiz.html

Just have to know how all the best items to order off the dollar menu. I recommend the cheesy bean and rice burrito, triple layer nachos, and shredded chicken mini quesdilla. You'll get what appears to be a giant bag of food that will set you back around $3.24. 7-layer burrito also a fine option but you won't get as much food.

So last night was: "How to talk to 7 year olds about drugs"
Her: "How old was Bradley Nowell when he died?"
Stepdad: 27
Her: That's really young. How did he die?
Stepdad: That's what happens when you make bad life decisions sometimes.
Her: But how did he die?
Stepdad: drugs
Her: What are drugs?
Stepdad: That's really complicated because aspirin is a drug and I take aspirin for headaches. But some drugs are bad and can kill you.
Luckbox: Alcohol is a drug
Stepdad: That's right. But it's legal and in moderation isn't addictive.

In retrospect I probably should have mentioned coffee but she always asks why I drink so much of it and my answer is always "because I'm addicted"
But even though it was a far from perfect teaching opportunity--it's a lot better than telling kids "stay away from drugs. They will kill you". Because eventually they are going to find out that people use drugs all the time and wonder about the blatant hypocrisy.

Kids can understand levels of severity just fine.

She knows about the concept of heat. Putting your hand in warm water is largely fine and can make you feel better if it aches. Running your hand under the faucet at the hottest temperature is okay for a second or two, but it might burn you if you leave it there for too long. Turn down your water heater if this is the case, by the way. Placing your hand on a hot stove is obviously extremely dangerous and will definitely lead to serious injury.

Just like heat can be mild or severe, so can drugs.

Wtf is going on here...

Something Oedipal.

Luckbox is some sort of a nanny I guess?

That question could pretty much be asked in EVERY thread in this Forum.

Something like that. For the next few months I'm helping some friends in South Carolina with their 9 month old for a few hours per day because having me live with them is cheaper than hiring a sitter I suppose--although the 9 month doesn't make for great ancedotes. Still working on the whole walking and talking stuff.

So I had this dream last night. Probably the sangria.

I'm at a Democratic party event. I guess it's a caucus, but it could have been any sort of event really. It was outside, in a big grassy field. It was so long that, in order to save time walking across the field, there was a kind of conveyor like they have in airports that could move you more quickly down the length of the field. Except it was a ditch filled with ****, it was like a **** conveyor. So I rode the **** conveyor down the field. It was quite fast. Fortunately I can't smell things in my dreams.

Anyway, while I was there I saw Joe Biden trying to talk to a voter, but Biden was pretty mumbly, and the voter misheard him and thought that Biden had just insulted him and walked off. But I'd heard him and I realized what he'd actually said. I wanted to tell Luckbox what Biden really said, but it turned out this event was also Luckbox's wedding, and I couldn't find him to tell him because he was squirreled away somewhere so he wouldn't see the bride.

Unlike Nebuchadnezzar, I don't necessarily seek the interpretation of my dream :P

Heh. Oddly enough my own dreams last night involved me and some females although it lacked any political context.
Just means Luckbox has the answers you're looking for regarding the democratic establishment. No Freud required. (Well maybe the part about me getting married requires Freud)

Election talk with the 7 year old. And important to note that pretty much every single youtube ad is for Tom Steyer.
Her: Tom Steyer is cheating on Trump because he wants to be president.
Me: (slightly confused): Well you know the elections are coming up again right?
Her: Yeah and Mr. Steyer says Trump is bad but I hope Mr. Trump wins because he's good.
Me: No politicians are good really but why do you think Trump is good?
Her: Because he lets us be free and maybe Mr. Steyer won't let us be free.
And I didn't know how to respond to that..."what does freedom mean to you?...." Or..."freedom wouldn't change under Steyer?". Or..."You've been listening to right-wing propaganda?".."Or Steyer doesn't have a chance anyways"..

"What does freedom mean to you?" seems like a good followup, and by good I mean mostly that it has the most potential to lead to an entertaining or otherwise quotable response.

WOW. That's a smart kid.

Freedom: "The right to accept responsibility. " (According to my eighth grade typing instructor in 1972).

Obviously the next step is to get the kid reading Isaiah Berlin on liberty :P

not a trump supporter stumped when 7-yr old says she likes trump

I told her there are no good politicians.
Later on I did ask her what freedom meant to her and she said it meant the freedom to do whatever she wanted.
How would you have handled it?
And what stumped me was her saying that she thought Trump was good for freedom, not her saying she likes Trump. But I understand nuance is hard and that you enjoy lying.

Her: Because he lets us be free and maybe Mr. Steyer won't let us be free.
You: Well that's very smart! And it's a really good reason because freedom is very important for everyone. But it's a little complicated and, unfortunately, President Trump thinks it's only important for some people, like his friends and people that look and talk like him. *elaboration*

And then she might say something like how I don't look like or talk like Trump and how I'm free. Or if she understood 'talk like' to mean English speaking she might say 'but my grandma doesn't speak English and comes to the US whenever she wants' or something.
And I'm not trying to get her just to hate Trump. I want her to hate all politicians so I think your approach is problematic.
And what if I think freedom is just some bullshit they teach us in school? (Which I do and it is). I can't then very well go talk about the importance of freedom for everybody if I think it's all made up "rah rah America. Freedom" nonsense, can I?