Telling children about Osama bin Laden
My husband and I watched in fascination as many young people gathered in front of the White House late last night after news of Osama bin Laden's death reached them via phone, Twitter and other social media.
I was in my early 20s when 9-11 happened. It was a defining moment in my young adulthood.
For many of the 20-somethings that I saw last night on TV, it was a defining moment of their childhood. They were in middle school or younger when the terrorist attacks happened.
As our toddler slept, I thought about the ordeal of parents of the 9-11 generation who had to explain what happened to their young ones.
Today, parents will be telling their children about the death of Osama bin Laden and his connection to the terrorist attacks almost 10 years ago.
How are you approaching the news with your kids? Are they asking questions about bin Laden?
How much are you revealing or holding back?
Comments
I am hoping to get some advice.
HC//who has some advice?
Posted by: Rosemary Milliman | May 2, 2011 1:27 PM
A good resource for talking to children can be found at :
http://www.pbs.org/parents/talkingwithkids/news/talking.html
As the parent of a 3 yr old, I'm grateful and hopeful that this event may lead to the decline of al Qaeda, I also need to be mindful of the example that we set for my son, and temper our celebratory comments.
Posted by: David | May 2, 2011 3:29 PM
Here's some advice from a professor of psychiatry at Brown University on how to talk to kids about bin Laden via Parents.com:
http://www.parents.com/blogs/goodyblog/2011/05/how-to-talk-to-kids-about-osama-bin-laden/
Posted by: Hanah Cho | May 3, 2011 12:05 PM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-stiffelman/children-bin-laden_b_858342.html is a wonderful article about talking to children about Bin Laden's death
Posted by: Devon Canton | May 7, 2011 12:20 PM