Did you tell your kids about the shooting?
By katsmeow1213
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
United States
December 16, 2012 8:14am CST
Friday I was at work, and one of my co-workers called her son after he got home from school. She found out that her son had heard about the shooting while playing on the internet, and he was very upset (he's 12). She was concerned about how upset he was, he really got himself worked up. She had to ban him from being on the internet for the rest of the weekend to avoid upsetting him further.
This morning I sign on to Facebook and there's a big long post from a friend of mine who'd just sat down and discussed it with her own children who are 10 and 6. She told them to never be scared because their grandfather who is now in heaven is always with them and always watching over them (I guess that's kind of a sweet touch).
Personally, I've not told my kids yet. Why ruin their weekend? I'm sure my oldest, who is 15 will hear about it at school tomorrow. The twins who are 10 might hear about it too. The younger ones probably won't hear about it and why bother telling them when they can't understand? Why bother upsetting them? What's the point? There's nothing they can do about it, and really nothing they can learn from it. It is needless worry and anxiety.
Did you tell your kids about it or did they hear about it elsewhere? If you did have a conversation about it, how did it go?
4 people like this
12 responses
@peachmom2369 (131)
• United States
16 Dec 12
I have not told my children and will not since they are very young and would not understand. If the children do not here about if even if they are older i would be scared to tell them as it might make them fearful to go to school which is suppose to be a safe and nurturing enviroment for them to learn all the skills they need when they grow up.
2 people like this
@GreenMoo (11833)
•
16 Dec 12
I only found out about it myself a moment ago when I came online for the first time in a couple of days.
I'm not intending on discussing it with my kids unless they bring it up. It's the school holidays now so they might miss hearing about it at all if they're lucky. I don't see any benefit in telling them bad news which we can't alter. It's just horrific.
1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
17 Dec 12
You're lucky it's not plastered all over the place there like it is here. We can barely avoid it.. I'm surprised none of mine have mentioned it.
@shaggin (72234)
• United States
17 Dec 12
My kids are little 8 & 5. I thought about maybe I should tell them in case they hear about it at school but then I thought it is such a sad thing I would really not want to bother them hearing about it. If they come home and ask me about it I will tell them but I figure at their age its ok to not say anything about it otherwise.
1 person likes this
@frankiecesca (2489)
•
17 Dec 12
Well as you probably know, I do not have children but, what terrible news this is to hear - it always makes you wonder what these people are thinking when they decide to go off and do something like this! There is obviously something wrong with their mind but, exactly what makes them do it is beyond me.
I hope all the families and friends will somehow come together to start to heal.
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
20 Dec 12
No, I don't feel a little child needs to hear about that sort of stuff at all why scare them from leaving the house? But if a child came to me and asked about it then I would figure out something they could understand logically for their age. There is so much violence out there already they aren't aware of..if they found out how much..they would be scared. My mother called me and said she was going to home school my little 11 year old sister because of all news on the shooting. I think they should put alot of out of work veterans and soldiers and put a few in each school all around so that this type of stuff never happens again.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
18 Dec 12
I didn't tell my children about it for a variety of reasons. I know that they did hear about what had happened at school and I know that I would have been there to answer questions for them if they had had any questions. However, we do live very far away from Connecticut and we don't know anyone that is from that area, so while this is something that has me deeply distressed, I don't want to make my children upset about something that really doesn't have an impact on their lives.
@UmiNoor (4522)
• Malaysia
19 Dec 12
I'm glad I don't live in the US. It's very peaceful here in my country and we don't experience people going around shooting school children. I will be anxious if it ever happen in my country.
I'm really sad for all the parents and family members that had lost their loved ones. It's really sad when the victims are just innocent little children.
America has to do something to stop this. It's getting to be too many mass shootings now. What's happening to America?
@surekharathi (14146)
• India
19 Dec 12
I think you should tell but in very polite manner and say the loss of this otherwise child may be also demand for this.
@mariaperalta (19073)
• Mexico
16 Dec 12
Here in Mexico we didnt have to.. they saw it all over the news and in all newspapers. I hope those parents with small children everywhere take time to talk about it with thier kids. God bless those families who lost loved one there......
1 person likes this
@crissy92 (91)
• United States
19 Dec 12
After thinking it over a lot, and discussing it with my own parents, I felt that my children should hear it from me first, so that I can explain it to them in terms they could understand, as well as hear the truth. I wouldn't want a fellow classmate telling them and have them upset with a bunch of questions that I'm not there to answer first. I waited until Sunday, and told them. My 13-year old heard about it on the television at the same time we learned about it. He wasn't upset to the point that I had to turn anything off, but he was saddened by it all for a little while. My 4-year old daughter understood to a certain point, and didn't seem bothered. I don't think she even realized the capacity of it all. How could she? But I didn't want her brother, who is 6-years old and in Kindergarden, to tell her stuff or converse with her about it and her ask HIM a bunch of questions. So I told them both together, at the same time. And after I explained everything to a certain amount of detail, I asked if they had any questions, and they did, and I answered them in the best way I saw fit. My 6-year old son wasn't afraid to go to school or anything today, so apparently, it was worth my telling them. At least they won't hear it from someone else first.
