Mum's 'playground bully' explanation of Russia goes viral as parents say it's the perfect analogy for kids

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A mum's playground analogy of the war in Ukraine is being used by parents to explain the conflict. Yvette Dawson-Phillips used it as a means of gently reassuring her daughter Megan when she'd called her up fretting over the invasion.

But when she shared her thoughts on Facebook, her post has quickly gone viral and earned praise from mums and dads struggling to explain how the war has come about in a way that youngsters will understand.

In it she likens World War Two to a 'big playground fight' after which 'lots of popular kids (WORLD LEADERS) got together and made a big gang (NATO), and all the kids in the gang made a pinky promise (TREATY) to be nice and respectful and not fight each other anymore'. "This means not going into each other's part of the playground (COUNTRY) without permission, and not throwing sticks or stones (HEAVY ARTILLERY) at each other, and the UK is part of the gang," she said. "But then a new kid (UKRAINE) joined the playground, and a big bad bullly (RUSSIA) started picking on the new kid, all because he is greedy and bossy and wanted the new kids playground space for himself, even though he has one of the biggest spaces in the playground." She goes on to explain how Ukraine is 'not part of the gang because the big bad bully didn't want the new kid to join the gang' and how we 'would be breaking our pinky promise if any of the gang members help the new kid fight the bully'.

Yvette's post has been shared almost 10k times and picked up by other social media outlets who have shared it too. "Thank you for this," said one follower. "You've not just explained it to your 11 year old but to a 35 year old as well.