Moms Talk: When Tragedy Strikes
What Do We Tell the Kids?
On one beautiful September Tuesday morning, my 3-year-old asked to watch Blues Clues as my 1-old-year-old played in his playpen. I said yes, but then felt a strong draw to turn on the Today Show instead. He whined in protest; I told him "just for a minute." I turned the channel and then life changed. "A plane has just hit the World Trade Center," Matt Lauer reported. The world—as we knew it—fell apart. The images were horrifying, but I couldn't turn it off. My phone rang off the hook: Where's your husband, Kris? Was he flying today? Why couldn't I reach him? Answer your phone, hon! Where were our friends, who worked near the World Trade Center? What about my former coworkers at the agency I worked for, who also worked near the complex? …
Rachel
10:08 pm on Saturday, March 26, 2011
I think this is the first big event that has registered for my son. He was aware of the event in a way that he hadn't been before, in part because of his age and an interest in the region. He has expressed an interest in travel to Japan and China (also known as the land of Karate Kid.) He understood what an earthquake was, but when he wanted to know what a tsunami was, I struggled with the … more ›