What Do You Discuss With Your Children?

This past weekend was a sad one. I don’t want to get too deep into details, but I do want to say that I’m thinking of everyone and their families, and I’m hoping for a kinder and gentler world. Our hearts are heavy, but with just a click or reading beyond our timeline, we’ll see that these are the times all over the world. It’s up to us to keep moving. It’s up to us to live, despite feeling so incomprehensibly sad that we lack the depth to see the light. We have to. We have to be part of a larger change. We have to live without fear. We have to.

Over the weekend, I found myself asking a question that I couldn’t answer: How do we discuss events of this magnitude with our children?

I understand that we shouldn’t go too far into detail. I don’t want River to fear for her safety. I don’t want her to know the pain of the world and evil’s capabilities yet. But I do want her to be aware in some way… eventually. I know children are fragile, and their innocence should be kept. But I am understandably conflicted on raising a child that thinks the life she lives everyday is universal, while many children her age are fighting along side their parents for something slightly better than war and bombs, and the unfathomable.

In regards to death, Joanna has some really great advice. And in general, we usually say not all people are good people. But what do you actually discuss with your children? How do you explain something of this magnitude, or do you just keep it within your own head?

Love to you all, wherever you may be.
LaTonya