How do we teach our babies about this day? When is too soon? Age 2? Age 3?
The greatest National tragedy of my lifetime, and the Little Man has no clue it even happened.
It's amazing to me how much he doesn't know, and how much I have to teach.
If you have older children, how are you handling it? If you have younger ones or don't have kids, how will you/would you explain the significance of this day and the events that make us remember it?
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6 comments:
It is sooo odd how your thoughts are so in tune with how i'm feeling day to day...weird. i was just thinking about this this morning and wondering what i'm going to tell him. There is so much to teach him, i'm not sure i'm up for it, or smart enough even. I can only hope that i have something to teach.
Eesh. Yeah, big/good question.
The 'what age' component is pretty tough--I guess, at an age where they seem aware, and would be likely to have exposure to it in their life--preschool, kindergarten? I don't know.
At what age were most of us taught about the World Wars? Quite a bit to ponder. I'm sure it would vary with the kid, their interest in and engagement with the greater world, etc.
As one great episode of Law & Order said: "everything's a situation"
;p
I don't know when we'll tell our children, but I know it won't be this year, at almost 3 and almost 2. Plenty of learning opporunities in front of us. Maybe in a nother year or two.
I think when you tell them depends on how greatly they themselves have been impacted. Did they lose a parent/grandparent/other family member? Otherwise, I plan to wait until he's aware of what's on the news and asks questions (or just starts watching intently). I'm in no hurry. But when I do talk about it I'll use a book called "September 12, 2001: We
Knew Everything Would Be Okay". It was written by first graders after the attacks and provides kids with a feeling of safety, which is important when discussing things like this. After it happened I had to talk to my preschoolers at work and one asked, "But why did they keep crashing the planes?" He thought there was more than two planes going into more than two towers, because the news kept replaying it and his mom/dad didn't change the channel. They also wanted to know they were safe - that's what's important with kiddos.
My thinking about the lower age ranges was because of the media coverage, and even newspaper stands. Or hearing adults talk about it -- kids pick up on things from a very young age.
Obvs a cursory overview at a young age would be appropriate. When do they understand the severity of it? 7, 8?
This is a tough conversation to get right, I'm thinking.
Thanks for the book rec, Cathy.
The world is scary enough. I don't tell her about the bad stuff until she asks a question (or until developmentally, she NEEDS to know). But I don't hide stuff from her, either. I listen to news on the car radio to and from school (it's better than the morning shock jocks!), so she hears what's going on in the world and asks questions, and I try to answer them simply and honestly.
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