We all want to protect our kids from dangerous situations, but the reality is sometimes we have to face hard truths in life. We read about tragedies in the paper. We watch horrifying news events unfold on television. But should we shield our children from them or should we talk to our kids about these events?
The other day I woke up to an alert on my smartphone. The message read “seven children dead in a house fire, two others critically injured” in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, NY. My heart sank.
All I kept thinking about was how terrifying it must have been for them. A father lost seven children, and his wife and one other child survived. As I prayed for this family, I began thinking of my own. Aside from a recent field trip about fire safety, we haven’t really addressed the topic with our four-year-old.
Let’s face it; this could have happened to anyone. According to news reports, a hot plate was left on and somehow malfunctioned. While everyone slept, the house went up in flames.
I think of the amount of times I’ve forgotten to turn the stove off and it’s scary. Unlike this family, we have smoke and carbon monoxide detectors on each floor. We check them periodically to make sure they’re working properly, and we also switch out the batteries twice a year.
Even though we take the necessary precautions, you never know what can happen. Just the other day, there was a gas explosion in Manhattan that left over twenty people injured and some missing.
Our kids are still too young to understand the severity of these situations. Yet it still makes me feel like we need to address them somehow.
Princess recently attended a school field trip where she learned about fire safety. In addition to that, we had a discussion about what to do in case of a fire. We talked about things like staying low to the ground, and how to get out of the house. “You may not be able to find each other, so this is what you’d need to do,” I said.
The thought is pretty scary to think about, but talking about it is necessary. The key is to have an open dialogue with your kids, no matter what age. Our daughter is only four-years-old, and we tailor our discussions based on her level of understanding.
We often talk about stranger danger and other ways to stay safe. While we won’t go into graphic details on a lot of the tragic news stories, we use them as spring boards to spark conversation and teach important life lessons.
How Often Do You Talk to Your Kids About News Events?
