As your niece and nephew grow up, they will become more interested in the world around them. Either over the phone or in the same room, go through the newspaper together. Read the headlines on the front page and answer your nieces and nephews questions about the topics of the day. Some questions may get difficult to answer, like someone’s untimely death or a natural tragedy that injured a lot of people. However, ignoring the issues won’t make them go away. Discuss with the kids’ parents how they explain these issues first so that you are not contradicting them.

If you’re a long distance Auntie, you can email your niece or nephew an article you think might be interesting for them and discuss it via email or over the phone together. The article might be about education, politics, sports, arts & entertainment, or anything you think they might be interested in talking about.

If you like the idea but are unsure of your ability to set the curriculum, Scholastic and The New York Times has teamed together to create UpFront – a magazine for teens. You can order them a subscription and the magazine basically bring the current events class to their home.

What’s news with your niece or nephew? What types of currents events do they like talking about with you?