Explaining Campaign 2012: How To Talk To Your Kids About Republicans Because sooner than later, they are going to form their own opinion By Abe Sauer 9/20 4:50pm Julia Ewan/The Washington Post/Getty Images Truth is, your kids may be experimenting with it long before you as a parent are ready to have "the talk."  Four years ago, maybe the only thing you associated with "hope" was the hope of three hours of uninterrupted sleep. "Change" was most commonly followed by "diapers." But it's 2012, and your children are older and dangerously vulnerable: science has demonstrated that children begin toying with Republicanism far earlier than previously thought. Thanks to technology, cable news, and a trend toward increasingly uninhibited (if not unhinged) political expression, children are regularly exposed to the kind of extreme views once associated only with Thanksgiving dinners and "that uncle." Fortunately, parents can use a number of early strategies to ensure their children are politically balanced and do not fall victim to the simple-minded seduction of the far right. Just as Joe Camel once enticed children into tobacco addiction, the two parties' cartoon mascots are an early gateway. With its kid-friendly (if lumbering) elephant, the GOP has the edge over the Democrats' donkey. Your kids will view Republicans as the party of Babar and Dumbo: joyous orphans who faced the hardships of life on their own, without assistance from any central authority. Meanwhile, the only donkey in most kids' lives is Eeyore, Winnie the Pooh's compatriot who never stops