How to Help
Children Through Wartime
- Denise Duhamel
Mister
Rogers says to tell your American young
it's OK to
be sad. Present them a globe
rather than
a flat map to show-and-tell
how far
away the Middle East really is. Stress
that the TV
Saudi weather report
doesn´t
mean the country is within driving distance.
Stress
that their
U.S. president assures them that all life is precious,
an Iraqi
child's equal to that of an American soldier.
Tell your
children this, whether or not
you
yourself believe him. Tell children that
parents,
be they
civilian or soldier, love them regardless
of what
soil they're on. Consider letting
children know
what the
war is really like,
but if your
daughter has Nintendo, do not pour blood
instead of
milk on her Cheerios. If your son
is in a
dangerous gang, let him explain
war to you
instead. Encourage all elementary
schoolers
to take
their chemistry sets to the sandbox.
If you
teach art, explain current events
with paper
dolls. A strand of red construction
paper men:
George
Bush, Dick Cheney, Sadam Hussein, et cetera.
Have
students crumple up one doll and name him
Noriega.
They may throw him in a Dixie cup
that
represents a jail. Then you may ask questions
that lead
students to notice the resemblance
of one
paper man to the next. Have each of the
children
pick a doll
who represents their favorite.
Instruct
them to cut that man up into the teeniest pieces
their
safety paper scissors will permit.
Members of
the class may begin to get restless, to sprinkle
each other
with the crimson bits. Allow this:
confetti,
bloodshed, red snow, bombs.
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