Strength

It’s hard to know the conversation to have with your kids sometimes. There are the biggies that we’re prepared for. The changing bodies talk and the sex talk are ones we dread, but we know will come up. Then there are the conversations we’re not prepared for. The bombing at the Boston Marathon, the school shooting in Newtown, the Sandusky sex abuse scandal.

 

Do you tell your kids about it?

How young is too young to know?

If you do tell your kids, what do you say?

If you don’t tell your kids and they hear it from someone else, is that worse?

I don’t want my kids to be scared to go out into the world. But I don’t want them to be trusting innocents either. Because the world we live in means they have to have street smarts. They can’t trust that everyone is good. Because that’s just not true.

 

They need to have some protection. And it’s protection that I can’t give because I’m not with them all the time. The only real protection I can offer is knowledge. But how do you offer knowledge without fear?

 

Fear can overwhelm, and it can paralyze, and it can distort. It can make us feel like the world is bad and getting worse. It can stop us from chasing our dreams and taking the risks necessary to make those dreams happen.

But knowledge can make us strong. It can temper the fear. A kid might still be afraid about a fire breaking out in the house, but she’ll feel better if she has knowledge about what to do.  

 

It’s hard to know the right age to offer knowledge about stuff so much darker than a house fire. It’s hard to tell a kid what to do when it’s so much more complex than “stop, drop and roll”.

 

I don’t know the answer. I just know that our hearts are with those affected by the Boston Marathon bombing. You are in our hearts and thoughts today. Be strong.