*In this piece, the names Maeve, Will and Henry Smith will be for students who wish to remain anonymous
As they settle into the living room after dinner, CNN plays quietly in the background. They watch for a little, and then their parents flip the channel to Fox News. Their whole life, Maeve, Will and Henry Smith have heard both sides of the story.
The Smith siblings grew up in a house with varying political views. With a Democratic mother and a Republican father, they were each allowed to develop their own political beliefs. Yet all of the siblings said they do not believe their views are a reflection of their parents’.
“I’d definitely say that they let us make our own decisions, and [didn’t] try to push anything on us,” Henry said. “It’s been, ‘here’s the information, you decide what you’re going to do with it’, rather than ‘this is what you should do, because we think this way’.”
Henry said he started to pay more attention to politics during the 2016 election. Maeve, however, said it was last year, when taking AP Government, that she realized she needed to learn more about politics.
“I think in [middle school], I started to know what was going on, because our parents watched the news, so I saw through them,” Maeve said. “I felt like it was important for me to know more, so that’s why I took AP instead of regular, so I could really understand [government] more.”
Similar to Maeve, Will also said he had a specific moment that sparked his interest: the Capitol attack Jan. 6. Before the insurrection, Will said he didn’t know much about the political world.
“The big issues grew my interest more, especially Jan. 6, [because] it had never happened before,” Will said. “I just thought it was fascinating that people did this, and that’s really [what] piqued my interest.”
Henry said his interest in politics also began to develop around middle school. He said he has always tried to be aware of what is going on in politics.
“Sixth grade, for sure, is when I started focusing on [politics] and became more aware of it, at that time I was starting to figure out what my interests were and politics, [was] one of them,” Henry said. “I pay attention to a lot more than most kids my age. Now, I’m trying to stay [updated] with daily politics by taking an hour every day [to watch the news].”
The siblings all said the information they were given and saw helped develop their political ideologies. Maeve said she takes a neutral stance, while Henry and Will both said they lean towards the Republican Party.
“I am Republican, [and] have been [since] … middle school,” Henry said. “Now that I am finally able to vote, I wouldn’t say that [my beliefs] have been shaped by my parents, it’s more just the information that they gave me and how I’ve chosen to interpret it.”
Will said that with the upcoming election, he believes social media is influencing teenagers more than ever due to reposting features. He also said he thinks your friends and school influence the posts you see, causing some teenagers to fall into what their friends believe.
“I think it’s more of an echo chamber of who you hang out with,” Will said.“If one person says yeah, I’m voting for Trump, everybody else says, yeah, I’m voting for Trump.I think social media plays a huge role in that.”
Will said he is not comfortable with sharing his beliefs on social media. Similarly, Maeve said that unlike some of her friends, she believes that posting political views is the wrong way to handle things.
“Some of my friends tend to post about their political views, and that’s just something that I disagree with,” Maeve said. “When you repeatedly post and post about a specific thing, I think it can kind of [seem] like you’re trying to push it on another person.”
Maeve said it is easy for people to assume her beliefs are more similar to her moms. She and Henry both said they hope people don’t make assumptions about their beliefs, and wait until they know them closely.
“If you talk to any of us, we’re all quite different from each other,” Henry said. “I think it’s more after talking with us [all] individually, they can have a good idea of what we each think.”
Maeve said she avoids the topic of politics, in an attempt to hide her political views. She said she believes discussing politics is not something that she is comfortable with.
“I do think it causes issues, and therefore I try to stay away from it, I’m really not a controversial person at all,” Maeve said. “I don’t want people to judge me because of my views, so I just keep to myself.”
With varying opinions from the parents and kids in the Smith household, the siblings all said they know fights are going to happen. Maeve said she tries to avoid the topic if possible.
“[My brothers] and I, we have different views on certain topics because we’re all different,” Maeve said. “I don’t talk about my political views, or politics period, with anyone in my family.”
Will, like Maeve, also said he knows politics need to be done respectfully in their family. He said in the past it was harder to avoid clashing, since they were still developing opinions.
“Around our dinner table, we all know what each other believes in, and we don’t really like to start arguing, I do think it could get a little heated in the past, because we all have different views,” Will said. “But now, I don’t think it will, because we all know what each other believes in , and we [can] all assume what each other will believe on future issues, and we stay away, because we all know what everybody’s reaction is going to be when [politics] comes up.”
