Should President Trump Be Your Child’s Role Model?
By: Randy Kulman
Tags: Trump, Presidential Debates, Role Models, Parenting Advice, Parenting

Role models for kids are changing. Ask a preteen who their role model is, and you are likely to hear about a celebrity YouTuber whose name you have never heard. The accessibility of screen-based mobile media has created a plethora of role models for 21st-century kids. In the days prior to mass media, a role model was often a parent, family member, teacher, community leader, or member of the clergy. The advent of newspapers, radio, and movies expanded the realm of potential role models to actors, athletes, musicians, adventurers, business barons, war heroes, writers, politicians, and others. Television and other media brought these role models into our living rooms on a regular basis. But it was not until the emergence of the Internet that children had access to nonstop and at times overwhelming information about a wider array of role models — some great and some not so great. Kids can now find role models in YouTubers, esports champions, skateboarders, indie musicians, political activists, and media-based celebrities along with more traditional role models such as entertainers, athletes, business leaders, and elected officials. If you didn’t grow up with a role model who bathes in a bath of slime, stars on a Twitch channel playing Fortnite, or shares her newest dance moves on TikTok, maybe it’s only because these role models weren’t available to you as a child. Media makes for role models and by all standards, the person taking up the most media oxygen for the past four years is Donald Trump, and therefore a prime person to be your child’s role model. However, parents all over America might want to be asking themselves if President Donald Trump should be their child’s role model.

Even with all of the influences of modern media, there is one enduring role model that grandparents, parents, and kids could easily share. This role model dates back to the 17th century and is emblematic in these words: “I cannot tell a lie. I cut it with my hatchet.” For those who have never heard this statement, it refers to an apocryphal tale about George Washington, our first president. The President of the United States has been a potential role model for children in the United States for the past 350 years. After all, one of our core American beliefs is that any citizen has the right to and can become president. While most presidents have been far from perfect, few have demonstrated the utter disregard of being our children’s role model in their public actions as the current resident of the White House.

Regardless of one’s political perspective, I venture to say that very few parents can honestly say they want their kids to act like the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Conversations with many of my friends with more conservative views than I suggest a distinct discomfort with President Trump as a representative of American values and as a role model for our kids. Some conservatives and Republicans with moral convictions that are more powerful than their political motives are speaking out. A Washington Post article by Senator Mitt Romney (The president shapes the public character of the nation. Trump’s character falls short.) reflects the growing consensus that most people in the United States, do not want their children to act like Donald Trump, even if they agree with his policies. The list of his unsuitable behaviors as a role model for our kids includes bullying others, constant lying, adultery, immodesty, and a host of other undignified behaviors. Romney describes this far better than I: “A president should demonstrate the essential qualities of honesty and integrity, and elevate the national discourse with comity and mutual respect.”

Presidents are in a unique position to serve as role models for our kids because they have such a prominent place in the lives of Americans. Given the current president’s proclivity for being the center of attention and always in the news, it’s hard to protect our children from his poor role modeling. As a child psychologist who doesn’t always think that YouTubers who play Fortnite 16 hours a day are the best role models for our kids, I have a few suggestions for parents (on the left and right) that could mitigate the potential influence of President Trump as a role model for their children: