Help Children Deal with Tragedy

In light of the recent terrorist attacks on America we find our youth dealing with a whole new set of problems, adult problems that some don’t even fully understand. I have watched as the news broadcasts show our youth signing up for different branches of our armed forces. I watch as small children, including my own, show their patriotism by creating patriotic pictures and crafts in our schools.

What does war teach our youth? How can we help them understand the meaning of patriotism, war, and regard for life itself?

When the attack fell upon the twin towers and the pentagon on September 11th, my 20-year-old son was home from work. I home school my other young children so they were also with me as we watched both towers fall, as we watched our own aircraft crash into buildings, and the people of other countries dancing in joy and praise of the destruction in our county.

One of my sons was ready to go to war, in fact enjoyed the thought of retaliation upon those who attempted to destroy something as important as our freedom. My youngest son watched as flames shot from the towers, he watched people running for safety, he watched as firefighter and rescue workers tried to save lives, and lost their own. Finally after hours of viewing this horror, he said, “Mommy, I cant watch this any more, its scaring me.” My 14-year-old son was in New York visiting his father for the summer and was scheduled to return home on the 12th of September. Of course that did not happen, and his younger brothers and sister feared that he wouldn’t come home for a long time. They feared him flying, he feared flying, and I feared having him fly. We put his return on hold for two weeks. My oldest son called and discussed the situation with me, and had a change of heart through conversation… he too was ready to go to war.

We opened ourselves to conversation as a family unit, leaving no one out…not even our five year old. She of course didn’t seem to understand what all this was about and hasn’t made any comment on the attacks at all, but none the less we had the discussion. I’m sure she will remember the sorrow someday. One month has gone by since this devastating act of violence upon us; we still discuss it, and the more recent events that have taken place here, and in Afghanistan. Since we live in Florida the concerns for anthrax are also high on our discussion list. We check each other daily to make sure everyone is okay; my husband has changed jobs so he can be closer to us, after working out of town most of the time. We console each other, we encourage each other, and we reassure each other that what we have here in America is important and we support everyone we come in contact with.

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