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Discussing the war and the world.

post #1 of 9
Thread Starter 
How much have you told your children?

How are they dealing with this?
post #2 of 9
My two older kids know, they have watched the news (dd almost 16, ds almost 13), but the "baby" (he's 4!) knows nothing. while we were glued to the TV, he was watching SpongeBob.

they are doing ok. they asked some good questions, but are handling it well. both are asleep now.
post #3 of 9
We don't watch any broadcast TV, and I don't listen to the news around them or get the paper, so they haven't been exposed. Ordinalrily, I think I would have discussed it with them in a very non-chalant way, but since my son has been having anxiety attacks I decided that we don't need to add stress to his life right now.
post #4 of 9
ds1 is 12 and very interested to know what's going on

we talk about events a lot - he is an anxious guy and needs to have lots of info at hand

he said today at school one of the boys said he thought the war was a good idea and ds was able to give him a pile of info to change his mind, esp the depleted uranium facts which no one else seemed to know about

he finds the whole thing very depressing though
post #5 of 9
I have a great book left over from the gulf war. It is The Land of Many Colors. It gives a very simplistic view of war, in terms kids can understand. It was written by a group of children. I reread it to ds last night and I started crying in the middle of it. But, I know he is aware of something going on and I have only given him a small amount of information. I explained it in very simple terms, because he asked what war was and then remembered the book I read him about 6 months ago. I want to go to some local protest, but I am not sure how it might effect him. I won't take him to MacDill Base CentCom here in Tampa, things could get really ugly there and I won't take that chance. I try to have the tv on in another room if I have to know what is happening.
post #6 of 9
DD#1 is 5 1/2 and though I ordinarily try to shield her from the worries of the world, I'm sure kids at school will be talking about what is going on and I think it is best that the first time she hears about war that it is from me. So this morning I told her what was going on in very simple terms. It breaks my heart to have to tell her what the words 'war' and 'weapons' mean.

I'm sure she'll have more questions when she gets home today. I do not watch tv when the kids are awake. I don't think she or her 2 year old sister need to see any images of war at this age.
post #7 of 9
My 9 yo seems pretty oblivious, but my daughters, 13 and 15 are scared. They talked about lock down procedures in school, and the girls are worried about biological weapons, etc.

As we talked about it last night, I did say to them that they should think about the people of Iraq, as well. While they worry about the war, those kids have it coming to their front yard. I pointed out that most of the people were just like us, living their lives and having no say so in what their leaders have gotten them into.

I really hate it that they have to worry.
post #8 of 9
Well, my DD is only three, but I explain things like this.....
the other day, she got really upset watching "Spirit" and told me to turn it off, because she doesn't like the " bad men". I sat her down and explained how there are no "bad people", only bad actions made out of fear. How when decisions are based on love, only good actions come out of them; but when decisions have their roots in fear, "bad" actions occur. I then told her that we are all the same, but some people are more scared then others, and they make their decisions out of lack of love. And everyone really thinks they are doing what is right, even if we perceive it as wrong. If and when she asks about the war (we pray for peace at the table every night), I will use this same analogy.
post #9 of 9
Thread Starter 
It's just gotten more ... visible ... to mine.

DS#1 is 5, and he's been aware of some of "the bad stuff" in other parts of the world, because we have been personally effected through friends & family ... and he's been aware of the WTC since it happened, because, well, he watched it happen on TV, first, we live in Manhattan, second, and third, we know people ... anyway, that's just been part of life.

The war now, we've stopped censoring ourselves around him, and he's been interested to know about it.

As my grandmother a'h used to say in her so-simple way, "there's nothing worse than war." She lived through WWI as a child, and even when she couldn't remember something so basic like if I was married or not, she remembered her experiences from that horror. I hear her voice constantly in my head ... and while trying to convey that message to my children, immediately follow it with the fact that DH&I will always do our best to keep them safe, etc.

Anyway. Just wondering.
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