Cribsheet regular Tobi  wonders how much to tell her preschooler….

Our car got broken into last night (nothing stolen). 

E. was already sort of fixated on people stealing (why, how, why why why) but now he’s also super anxious.  So I thought this blog in the Times was timely — what IS the right level of “reality” exposure for little kids?  How do we explain why bad things happen? 

When (and how) do I start talking to my kids about slavery, the Holocaust, 9/11, war?  We never have the TV news on in our house, but I know E. is hearing little snippets from school and NPR.  How to protect him, on the one hand, but also create a compassionate (and not-too-sheltered) kid on the other hand?  Why aren’t there mathematical formulas for these parenting things?!?!?!?!?!?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 9th, 2008 at 10:47 am and is filed under Family Life, Related Articles, Solicited Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.