Kids and Terrorism

Dear parents,

Our kids today have all grown up in a world with terrorism. To be sure, terrorism has been around for hundreds of years, but that terrorism was not visible on the news or social media. In today's world we see images of terrorism every day. Even our children see images and hear stories of terrorism whether we try to protect them or not. As parents we have a choice of whether we want to pretend that we are sheltering them from the knowledge of terrorism or whether we want to deal with it. My bias is that we deal with it.
 
·         Talk to your kids about what's happening in the news. They will understand. And it's better for you to explain it to them than another student to take that role.
·         Help them see the good that other people are doing. There are many examples of people who are doing the right thing, both adults and children. It's easier to understand evil, when it's compared with good.
·         Involve children in acts of service. Help them be a part of the good in this world. Do it as a family. We do this as classes, when we take our children to Grace Care Center to sing to the residents.
 
We can't totally stop terrorism, and we certainly can't prevent kids from seeing its images. We can practice helping them learn how to deal with evil in our world. We can also help them learn to be a part of the good in the world.
 
Blessings on your parenting,

Tim Miesner
Principal