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What to tell your children when the world is broken.

© Lara E. Kaskabas

Hush child. Let me soothe those shining tears that gather in your eyes. Hush child. I won't leave. I'll stay with you to cross this bridge of sighs.

~from Lullaby to an Anxious Child

On Tuesday, September 11th my daughter slept peacefully while I stared in horror at the surreal images of jets colliding in flames with the world trade center towers. Her eyes were closed in slumber as tears of fear and empathy streamed from mine. When she woke that morning I turned off the television and waited for news updates via telephone from friends, family and colleagues.

I think in the wake of what happened in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania in September, we need to be aware of the images that our children are seeing on television and in print. We need to be watchful. It is our duty as parents to decide what they can and cannot handle emotionally and intellectually, because we do know best. Even more importantly, when they do catch images here and there we can't just let that go -- we need to talk with them. Ask your children how they are feeling. Find out what they are thinking and help them work through it.

Something we need to remember about children, especially very young children, is that they are not able to make the distinction between movies and reality. It is very confusing for them. Some children see these images and think it is a movie trailer. Other children will see them being replayed and fear that it is happening all over again. They understand the reality of what happened but cannot distinguish between real time and replay. So we need to sit down and talk with our children and explain to them what is really happening.

Most of all we need to comfort our children and reassure them that they will be safe. That we will protect them and shelter them and not allow harm to come to them. When our children are certain of these truths, they will feel comfortable talking with us and they will trust us enough to believe that they are safe.

Keep listening and keep talking. And turn off the televison.

The copyright of the article What to tell your children when the world is broken. in Natural Family Health is owned by Lara E. Kaskabas. Permission to republish What to tell your children when the world is broken. in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.