When catastrophic things happen in this world, it’s hard to avoid answering questions from your kids mostly because they hear you talking about it or hear about it in school.
I ran into this issue with the earthquake in Haiti.
My oldest peaked over my shoulder as I was looking pictures from the Associated Press. There is just no way to sugar coat imagery like we saw from Haiti.
Kids are so innocent. You want to shelter them from everything. However, we live in a world that is violent and full of tragedies, murders, accidents and just some bad bad stuff like child abuse and kidnappings.
There are times that I worry about my kids at school. What’s to say some nut job is going to pull a Columbine?
It’s these — Haiti, Columbine, kid nappings, school security, terrorism, drugs in schools, etc. — incidents that really freak me out as a parent. How do we shelter our kids from the dangers and horrific events that take place in this world without sheltering them…..if you get my drift.
We can’t….an answer that’s tough to digest and accept. Guess all we can do as parents is educate our kids about the dangers in this world and help them better understand how they can help those in need — like in the case of Haiti.
As I thought about this more, I recalled what it was like when I was a kid. We’d play outside until the street lights were on. Mom would scream for us and we’d coming running home. These days, kids basically need a security force and GPS planted in their butts for parents to feel any real comfort as to the safety of their kids.
Maybe it’s the current state of the media that has created this unnerving feeling of the lack of safety. Turn on the news and if it bleeds, it leads.
Then again, maybe this world is getting progressively worse in all areas that make parents like me want to bubble wrap our kids before they leave the house.
What are your fears as a parent?
Not sure if I'd want a security force and GPS — just a web cam attached to their heads, AND the security force.
I'm sure our parents had similar fears about our safety, but I have to believe there's more potential for danger for our children these days. Or, maybe we just know more about the potential for danger these days?
My wife and I have a similar situation now in explaining tragedy to our kids. Thursday evening, a 18yo boy lost in a “game” of Russian roulette. (See story in the local Toledo daily here: http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl….)
While we can't do anything about the tragic loss of a young life, we can use that incident to stress to our children about the dangers of guns and what is a game, and what is not.
Solid and thoughtful post, Don.
-Mike
Thanks Mike. I've been thinking about EoT alot lately and I think we need to move a little past the locker room stuff and get into some of the issues that we as dads, and parents in general, worry about, talk about, work towards, goals, etc.
In this case, I worry about my kids all the time — sometimes more than others. However, watching the news, hearing the stories, etc. just elevates those thoughts and fears.