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Originally Posted by The12thMan";p="
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Originally Posted by raytri";p="
But I don't really believe in shielding kids from reality.
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Pretty broad statement. Do you really mean it? |
A qualified "yes." If something comes up, or the kids ask about it, I don't avoid the topic or tell a lie. Since we read the paper in the morning and occasionally watch TV news, that covers a lot of territory. I've had to explain Iraq, the election, the tsunami and other not-so-comfortable concepts to my 4-year-old. We've talked about the need to be wary of strangers, and you can't do that without broaching some topics that can be terrifying to a little kid.
I've been highly impressed at how well small kids can handle "tough" concepts like death and war and natural disaster. Present it matter-of-factly in a way they can understand, and they do fine. I don't think we do them many favors by coddling them too much.
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I told the story to show that you cannot unconditionally trust the professionals.
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Agreed. Unconditional trust is at least as misguided as blanket indictments.
