When is your child old enough to understand important historic events as they unfold? Anytime – if you frame their exposure and your explanation in terms that are age appropriate.
We think it is critical that our kids grow to become active participants in the political life of their community and nation. It is our hope that they develop into informed and knowledgeable citizens.
At the TR household, we involve our kids in political conversations and activities on a regular basis: from protests and rallies at the Capitol, to dropping literature for Presidential or other candidates, to watching speeches on YouTube, to reading about history.
But conversations have to be engaged in ways that each child can understand. When campaigning for the current President, we discussed with our then three year-old Bluey- 
“Mom and Dad are helping elect this person because we like his ideas for assisting all of us to live in a more just and fair society.” And with ten-year old Plum, we had more in depth conversations about ways to create jobs, ways to help the sick, the poor and the elderly- and how to identify which candidate had a better plan to achieve that goal.
When a recent announcement by the US Supreme Court left TRDad momentarily stunned by joy, he explained to Bluey that a group of judges has just made it easier for you to marry whomever you love, if you want to get married when you are older. This simple explanation made sense to Bluey and allowed him to understand, in his own way, the significance of the moment.
We don’t want our kids to grow up with no memory of important events that occurred as they developed into active members of society. History is something you live, not just a thing you read about later.