Tell the Children

A guest post by Mary. M. Isaacs

Early in the morning, as school was just beginning, one of my students came up to me. She started telling me about something that had happened, “in a big city, when bad people hit a building. Fire people, police went in to help. The buildings fell down and lots of people died. My mommy told me.”

My student looked at me intently as she told me this news.

She is four years old…

I was as taken aback as I’ve ever been. My eyes and throat instantly filled with tears. I looked her straight in the eyes, and answered the best I could without breaking down, “Yes, I know. I remember that!” And then went silent, to see what she would say or do next.

She told me all over again about the people who ran into the buildings, and that the buildings fell down, and that a lot of people died. I said, “Yes, many of them died. But the fire people and police helped a lot of people to live. They were very, very brave.”

That was enough for her. And as much as I could manage.

She moved on to play elsewhere in the room while I stood there, swallowing my tears. Remembering 16 years ago, and thinking how deeply moved and grateful I was that her mother had taken the time to explain about 9/11 to her child. Not hiding it, not denying it–just letting her child know that such things had happened.

Quite young children can handle things like this, if explained clearly. They are not derailed by complicated emotions and opinions. This little girl’s mother gave her an invaluable gift: the gift of knowledge. As she grows older, she can build on the basic facts of 9/11, and learn more and more about that time of grief–and, yes, faith, courage, and strength.

I hope I did my part, as her teacher, to give her the words “very, very brave”, and that the “fire people and police” helped others to live. She will remember the conversation with her mother, and hopefully the one with me. She will have important history in her heart.

Tell your children what happened. Never forget.

h/t “out of the mouth of babies and children…”

Originally published in 2017