What happened last Friday was a horrible tragedy but I choose not to speak to my children about it! They don’t even know what happened at the World Trade Center on September 11th all those years ago. Why do I choose to keep a secret? I think children carry the burden of far too many other things and something like this isn’t something they need to know about.
This senseless act of death is horrifying and downright sad for any child to hear, in my opinion. Where would I even begin? Why should I share it with them? Knowing my children, as only parents know, it would spark fear and I don’t want to hinder them in thinking they can live a happy life, because something like this can happen so senselessly. You hear so many people saying we shouldn’t trust people of certain cultures, assuming that they are all the same. It’s untrue and unfair to assume everyone is bad. No one culture, religion or race should be blamed for the actions that individual people take.
I want my children to know that through all this madness and chaos, there are still kind people in this world. That’s why I will only share what they want to know. If they ask… I tell and if they don’t, I won’t share anything at all. I plan to share when they get wind of something having happened in Paris that one BAD person can’t change my mind that there are still GREAT people in this world! The choices that people make can affect many lives but it can’t affect how we continue to perceive others, not for me at least.
I don’t feel that I’m sheltering my children, I just want them to know that the incident in Paris will not play a role in how we choose to live our lives and the choices we make when making friends. I want them to recognize greatness in those who come to the aid of others in their time of need. This is what I will choose to speak to them about – recognizing the good in all those who help others and not the individuals who take lives of innocent people. I want them to know that there is both good and bad in this world but they don’t need to see the visuals of what took place in Paris which I feel could ruin their innocence.
I am not saying that the way that I choose to deal with these attacks is the right way…they are simply the right way for my children and myself. I tell as much as they want to know but will not share anything further. A full week later and they haven’t mentioned a thing… I am getting tighter hugs and more ‘I love you’s’ from my youngest, my oldest mentioned his teacher shared a picture of her and her husband in front of the Eiffel Tower but that’s where it ended. He had no questions even though I was prepared to answer. They both seem fine and when the time comes and they ask, I will share as much as I think they need to know…and what’s age appropriate for them.
Care to share: Did you share the Paris attacks with your children? How did you deal with it?
[…] didn’t. My point is, why even take a chance? I would take EVERY threat seriously after all of the recent events in Paris and in Los Angeles as […]