I know that I probably should have told Darly about 9/11 before now...I just couldn't figure out how. I know that if she had been in public school she would have been taught about it by now...but how? Would it be the way I want her to hear it? I don't know....
So today on the way home from Gymnastics class, I was mentioning that we needed to get home to take in the flag before it started raining...and Darly said something to the fact that today was just another normal Monday. She didn't understand why I had put out the flag today. There was my opening
I told her that No, today is not just any normal Monday. Today is the Anniversary of when terrorist highjacked airplanes and crashed them into 3 buildings killing nearly 3,000 people.
and then I waited for the questions...
that haven't come yet.
I plan to show her the pictures, show her some of the tributes that we have posted, and tell her about what has happened since. But I've always believed that it's better to eat an elephant one bite at a time...so we'll take this slowly.
I know. The older 2 sort of remember the day - I picked them up from school, along with hundreds of other parents. The whole day was a daze.
ReplyDeleteNow they are in 5th and 4th grades, and I guess they briefly talked about it yesterday, but not much. When they ask, we explain...but how can you explain why anyone would do something so horrific when you don't even understand? :(
My friend's hubby is in the military and they were over in Germany when the attacks occured. They lived on post and the kids went to school on post. It happened that she was working off post and when she went to pick them up, there were soliders everywhere toting AK47s. She was afraid and then even more afraid when she found out what happened. And her kids had to walk around post, looking at the soliders with the big guns.
ReplyDeleteAnd I won't even get into the anti-American stuff that was going on for awhile after the attacks.
http://www.danno.org/blogs
Hello, I'm a friend of chickadee's. I was reading her blog and came accross the comment you made regarding her friends in Germany. I'm the friend.
ReplyDeleteMy husband was in the field when September 11th happened. I had the day off and was spending time with my then 3 year old son. Came home to turn on the tv, and there was New York in smoke. I called my mom immediately. She's in Austin, Texas. She told me that two airliners had flown into the World Trade Center. My father is an airline pilot for Continental Airlines. In Germany, after September 11th, there was an outpouring of support for what had happened. If I had only taken pictures of the candles, the letters of sympathy, the stuffed animals that were laid at our gate. It was wonderful to know the world stood beside us through the tradgedy of 9-11. The protests happened as the war with Iraq started.
As a former Junior Girl Scout leader, maybe, a badge or an activity with a group so they can all talk about it together.