How did you explain the Newtown shooting to your children?

I told my 6-yr-old son that a young man had something wrong with his brain and it mad him crazy. I said he lives in America, where they have a lot of guns (I explained we do have some guns here but not so many). I told him he took guns to the school and shot some children and some teachers. I did NOT tell him that the children were the same age as him. I told him how many teachers and the janitor were heroes and saved all the other children, keeping them safe and hidden until the police came. I told him the police came really fast! My sons's school had just practiced their lockdown drill the previous week, so I reminded him that everyone at his school knew what to do to keep safe, if a bad guy ever came. And I told him that a bad/crazy person probably won't ever come.

by Louise 12/17/2012 5:22:33 PM
Don't pray, get rid of the guns! More people die in the US from guns than the rest of the developed world put together.

by Patrick mistal 12/17/2012 5:23:51 PM
One could almost feel a wave of trauma go around the world as every media outlet picked this up. Learning of this was difficult. I guess because this was so close to home and involved children, and even though we know this kind of suffering continues daily in conflict zones, such as the mid east, Syria, Sudan.

All we seem to have is a question of how to respond to this. Becoming another trauma victim is unhelpful and so is anger or fear. Feeling helpless in the face of this is hard. However, there is a saying that “if one cannot do something, then say something. If one cannot say something, then feel something”. Perhaps feeling something is the place to start. Perhaps one response is to take a quiet moment,

Be present with your children
Be present with your friends and family no matter how far away.
Take them into your heart
And love them from your heart.
And for those in the center of this suffering
Perhaps a quiet and loving response from the heart.

We know so well the arising and hard presence of emotions attached to suffering, but also their gradual cessation and impermanence. There is no making sense of this tragedy. Who knows the suffering or psychosis of the person who did this. This is difficult to experience, but at this moment I think we need to reaffirm love more than ever.

This road to peace will be hard but we do not seem to have a choice. I hope Obama is able to do something meaningful.

by Ethics2001 12/17/2012 9:53:59 PM
I work at a institution where a mass murder occurred. Since Friday, we have completely disconnected from all broadcast media to avoid exposing our kids to any news reports on the subject. We know that we will eventually talk about these events given where I work, but not until they are much older. It will be a discussion about horrible events, mostly about how we can act individually and collectively to avoid these tragedies in the future.

by Margaret 12/18/2012 3:21:57 AM
What's the best approach to talking to kids about a story that includes so many horrific details?
How did your children react to the news? How did you answer your children's questions about the mass shooting?

Share your stories by typing in the comment box above.

School boards and psychologists in Canada have given advice such as keeping up normal routines, admitting you don't have all the answers and reducing exposure to media.

by Melissa Whetstone 12/17/2012 4:21:55 PM

How did you explain the Newtown shooting to your children?

What's the best way to talk about the horrific tragedy? Share your advice