After an event like what happened in Connecticut yesterday, the question for me is what to tell my kids. Do I sit them down and teach them that bad guys sometimes come into classrooms to kill little children, and that they should do this, this, and that to stay alive? Or do I preserve their innocence and say nothing?
When there was a fire at a mall in Doha, Qatar that killed 13 children in the mall's play area, I had a talk with my kids about fire safety, and how you have to get OUT. Not sit and wait for a teacher, not hide in a closet, but get out, opening a window and jumping from it if necessary. But a fire is a fire, not a person holding a gun.
How do I balance my fervent wish that my kids never know that there are people out there who want to hurt others, with the fact that there are people out there who want to hurt others?
When there was a fire at a mall in Doha, Qatar that killed 13 children in the mall's play area, I had a talk with my kids about fire safety, and how you have to get OUT. Not sit and wait for a teacher, not hide in a closet, but get out, opening a window and jumping from it if necessary. But a fire is a fire, not a person holding a gun.
How do I balance my fervent wish that my kids never know that there are people out there who want to hurt others, with the fact that there are people out there who want to hurt others?