We’ve been talking about how to prepared out kids and I said I had a story I told my own son, 4, when he asked about “bird flu”. I’m trying to put it up on the wiki side, but it just seems really out of place there. The forum is where we are talking about all the personal stuff, with emotions and our families, and dealing with picky eaters and so on. I will look into whether we can add more of this “touchy feely” stuff to the wiki side, but in the meantime, I want to post this story for anyone who may find it useful. I welcome ideas and feedback, or other ways you have tried explaining/preparing your kids, especially your younger kids.
To expalin a serious situation to a young child (preschooler to about age 7) I suggest:
Here’s a template of a story you can use.
Once there was a town that had many children and grownups, and they were always very busy. The children went to preschool, and they went to the market with their mommies, and they played with all the other kids at the park in the center of the town. Sometimes the families went visiting, and the kids played at each other’s houses and everyone stayed for lunch or dinner. On Sundays everyone went to church, and the kids went to Sunday school and the babies went to the nursery, and the parents stayed in the church and prayed and sang out loud.
In those days and in that town, sometimes the children got sick, and it would be just the regular kind of sick. They might have a cough, or a headache, or maybe they would have a hot fever. And so, their mommies said they had to stay in bed, and they got to watch TV. Their Mommies gave them hot chicken soup, and soon they felt better and could play again. It was just regular sick. And maybe the mommies and the daddies got that kind of sick, too; and they drank chicken soup and stayed in bed a few days, but then they got better.
But one year a big sickness came to the town. If people got this big sickness, they were sick for a long time and some of them did not get better. It was a very scary sickness, because some people could die from getting sick.
Some of the children got sick, and they were very, very sick. So then the mommies had to take care of them, and hold them up and give them tiny sips of water and chicken broth and medicine. Then the mommies got sick, too, and the daddies had to hold them up and feed them sips of water and chicken broth and medicine. But then the daddies got sick, and the mommies were still sick, too, so there was no one to help the daddies. So you know what happened? The children had to try to feed the daddies. But the daddies were so big it was hard to hold them up! So some other people had to come to the houses to help the families, or the families had to go to the hospital.
So many people were getting sick and there weren’t enough people to help out. So the town people decided to close everything so people would stop getting so sick. They closed the schools, and the stores, and the parks, and the churches. All the children stayed at home and some of the mommies and daddies stayed with them. Some mommies and daddies had to go to work every day, so they put masks over their faces to try to keep the sick germs away from them, and they always washed their hands a LOT so they wouldn’t get the sick germs into their eyes and noses.
The town people decided to close all the stores, because stores were one place that the sick germs could spread from person to person. So the grocery stores were closed, and the shoe stores were closed. Every kind of store was closed, so no one could do any kind of shopping.
Sometimes the children were eating cereal for breakfast and they said, “I don’t LIKE this cereal, please buy me a new cereal!” And the mommies had to say, “Sorry, kids, the stores are all closed. You just have to deal with it.” And the kids had to deal with whatever cereal they had! So this was how the children learned to like eating new things, because if they didn’t they would be very hungry.
And sometimes the kids said “We are really bored here at home by ourselves. Can’t we go play somewhere new and fun, and see our friends?” And the daddies had to say, “Sorry, kids, the parks and pools and schools and movie theatres are all closed. You just have to deal with it.” So the kids found new things to do inside the house and their yard, and stayed away from other people until the sick germs went away. So this was how they practiced their imagination.
And sometimes the kids got really scared and said, “What will happen if we get the big, bad sickness?” and the mommies and daddies both said, “Let’s hope we don’t, but if we do, we will just have to deal with it, all together!” And so, the children and their parents all had to learn to be brave and wait for things that might happen. This was how they practiced their courage.
After many days, the town leaders said that the big illness had left the town, and it was safe to come back out and go to preschool and stores and church again. It was a sad time in the town, because the big sickness had made many of the children, and their mommies and daddies and even the grandparents sick. Some of them were very sick for a long time, and they couldn’t even walk, and some people were so sick that they never got better, and they died. So it was a very sad time.
But it was also a happy time, because the big sickness was gone from the land. The children were told that the sickness might come back one day, but they would be ready, because they had practiced so many new things while they were at home. They also learned how to wash their hands a LOT, and keep the sick germs away.
Average concerned Mom,
Thanks for the story, BUT it seemed like a very SCARY story to ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have you discussed BF with your 4 year old? My oldest is 4 and i have not mentioned it at all. I rather her live in ignorant bliss than worry about it. I’m the mummy, I’m the one that will do all the worrying in this house!
But seriously, she has not asked and I therefore have not offered any information. If the day comes when we need to SIP, I will then explain.
What do you think? I’m I wrong to do this? She’s such a happy child and I dont want to burden her.
Your thoughts please
Yes — he overheard me talking to his dad.
I don’t recommend bringing the subject up now if there is no need. But some of us were talking about how to discuss it — if and when we needed to. This was my suggestion.
Yes, it is a scary story. But we do talk about other scary stuff with our kids — if we read the Bible and they hear about the story of Noah and the arc for example, or go to church and explain why a dead guy is hanging on a cross. (For religious people).
And if we read fairy tales, there are stories of death there too — the Pied PIper of Hamiln comes and takes all the chidlren away, that kind of thing.
Some people avoid hose types of stories with their kids as well, and that’s fine with me!
Don’t know if this is helpful or not, but it has tips for talking to children and teens about disasters, its from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services.
http://www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/cmhs/TraumaticEvents/tips.asp
Thank you ACMOM,
You know, I’m one of those people that AVOID those kind of stories because I remember they used to keep me up at night! I don’t even like it when my husband sings Ring Around the Rosey to the kids because it’s about the Black Plague and the bit where “we all fall down” signifies the kids dying! I also try to not pass on my personal hang up to my kids, I’m petrified of frogs (yes I know…..) and I try to be all brave where there is one in the garden.
The English have all kinds of morbid nursery rhimes so you can’t avoid it, you know what happened to Humpy Dumpy right?
But seriously, I’m really impressed that your 4 year old asked about it! Mine would not even pay atention! Even if she heard us talking, I don’t think she would pay any attention because it doesnt involve Barbies. She just does not seem to have that level of conciousness. She is very intelligent, top of her class, but kind of lives in a happy little world and lets me do all of the worrying.
I tend to protect my kids a lot from all of the “baddies” of the world and just yesterday I was wondering if I’m doing the right thing. Just from the point of view that I’m convinced that I’m such a happy adult because my mother managed to ruin my childhood. Once I was out of her tenticles it was GREAT!!!!! and I live in this really happy place because I appreciate it so much. Perhaps if my mother hadnt been such a cow, I would not be as happy today.
So the question is, should I make the kids miserable sometimes just so they can grow up into happy adults, too much happiness and stability could be bad for them. ;) Maybe i should hide their favourite toys. What do you think :)
Personally I’m not saying anything to my kids unless I have to (ages 10, 6 and 3). No need to stress them out right now. If it gets closer to TSHTF then we’ll talk. My oldest would get it, but my middle one would freak. And if I only told the oldest, he might tell the middle one in a much more frightening way than with your story. So for now, lips sealed. Most of our preps are out of sight so they wouldn’t know anything was different as i normally have a decently stocked pantry.
I have been more motivated in getting my kids to do more for themselves than previously. I’m teaching my 10yo how to make certain foods and do laundry. I’ve also been trying to get them to eat more “prep” foods, but much of it is stuff we don’t normally eat - eg my kids prefer fresh, raw veggies and they HATE canned tuna - but it isn’t going well.
ITA with Laura B. No need, IMO, to stress children out with an event that may or may not happen. The “story” above would be frightening for most children I know (not to mention adults). I have a very inquistivie 5 year old who asks questions, which I answer, but I don’t engage her on the topic, 1. because I don’t feel it is necessary and 2. because she would obsess about it.
There are so many other things we can work with our children on - self-sufficiency, independence, compliance, etc, skills that would be useful in a pandemic, but without causing them to worry. I personally plan to say little to nothing unless TSHTF. To each his/her own.
My kids (7 and 5) were asking questions about the preps they saw in the store room. I just told them, in one sentence, that a dangerous disease might occurr and that we might have to stay indoors for some time. They understood and did not question further. What they see on the news on TV these days is much more frightening and difficult to explain in my opinion.
I haven’t said anything yet to my child how will turn 4 in a couple of weeks. I think some version of the above story is good when and if I need to use it. I would also suggest that you do a search (on Amazon or wherever) for books for children on death. There are several out there (and I can’t remember their titles at the moment). It would be a good thing to have on hand. Thanks for starting this thread.
This is what happened:
We were on a vacation, long car drive. I thought my son was asleep in the back, and started giving my husband a description of the book I was reading. “The Great Influenza”. So my son, who wasn’t after all asleep, heard about it, and asked a lot of questions.
I didn’t bring it up to him as in “This is a something that is going to happen and a lot of people are going to die and you should be very very scared of it!” Nor even as, “Would you like to hear a nice night-night story?” (-: Really I am not that cruel.
I told him this kid’s version of what happened. He is quite scared of being sick, because he had had very bad croup twice and had to go to the ER. So I stressed that what happened long ago wasn’t the “regular” kind of sick, but was a big sickness.
At 4 and a half, he is also suddenly very interested in death — what happens when you die, why people die, what happens to their bodies, why God lets people die and so on. So when he overheard me talking about a lot of people dying in 1918 he wanted to know what and why and why they didn’t go to the doctor’s and so on. He also has tons of questions about why soldiers fight, why we have wars, why police carry guns, why bad guys have to be bad guys. I do my best. (-:
So, this was the story I told him. It is a very scary topic, but I had to explain what had happened. Well, that is my personal parental decision. I could have just told him we were talking about grown-up stuff and left him in the dark. But I decided not to because I actually do think there is a likelihood of a pandemic and possibly even in a few years. If so, I am setting the framework in his mind that there is a regular kind of sick, and you don’t have to worry too much about getting it. But that sometimes, there’s a big kind of sick, and things will be different if that happens.
Honestly, the hardest part for him would be explaining to him why we have to SIP.
I was not suggesting using the story to explain things to kids right now. Certainly not in response to why you have a lot of preps. I guess it isn’t all that useful. But, maybe it wil be sueful to somebody who finds herself or himself in a similar situation as I was in.
how about just talking about being prepared, instead of illness?? Everyone prepares to go camping, being out in the cold, getting wet swimming. Extra clothes are for when you get wet, snacks in the car are for when you might get hungry, extra gloves are for having them when you need them. Preparedness is like boyscouts and camping, not sickness and death.
ACM,
You have an “interesting” child. I feel for you!
ACM, I think you have a very healthy, inquisitive youngster there. I don’t have kids, but I have 5 neices and nephews, and it was at about that age when they started asking some of the wildest questions, much like your young’n…
Hi all — I just started a thread on touching the eyes, nose, mouth, and face with possibly contaminated hands — it’s a bad habit I have, and I am sure that that is going to be relevant with school age kids. Any thoughts?
Melanie—
He takes after his father! (-:
Thanks Bronco Bill!
I’d appreciate it if this thread could be closed. It was well intentioned, appears to be of no use to anyone but myself.
(Man, if I’m too extreme for the FLUWIKI, I have really gone around the bend….) (-:
Not gonna close it. This is a valuable thread for people with children.
I’d like to see it stay open, too. As I said, I don’t have kids, but the neighbors all do, and a lot of them have kind of adopted us as their sounding board with questions they don’t know how to ask of their own parents. I learned a lot from this thread…
There have been scatterred discussions on talking with older kids (preteens+) about prepping and panflu. Depending on the child and the age, I think there is a great value in discussing it. But only if a parent thinks that child is ready to deal with it. Something like the PBS American Experience show on 1918 might be a good place to start - it brings it to life in a way just reading can’t.
Average Concerned Mom- that’s a fantastic story!
In no way do I think it’s a good thing to unnecessarily scare children, at the same time I think it’s important to be honest when a subject comes up. My kids heard about BF on the news, from the newspaper and yes- from overhearing their Dad and I talking when we thought they were sleeping:-)I answered all of their questions as well as I could and talked to them about some of the different ways our life might change if a pandemic occured and the things we could do to practice better hygiene(starting now!). I just spoke to them matter-of-factly, very calmly and they weren’t frightened. In past generations children were exposed to the hard facts about sickness and death, it’s only in the last few generations in the developed world that we have tried to hide some of the realities of life and death from our children- with the best of intentions of course. After all, with all of the advances in science and medicine, the high standard of living that we are able to have it’s not a usual occurence for someone close to us to die. With modern day health care and burial practices many of us are very removed from the process of caring for the sick and burying the dead. Not a bad thing at all, don’t get me wrong. The point I’m trying to make is explaining as best you can, in terms and detail appropriate for their age, IMO won’t scar them for life. Speaking plainly about these things may not work for everyone and every family but it certainly did for us, I’m glad it worked out well for you too.
ACM at 18:47
Thank you for this thread. And thank you Melanie for not closing it. I have tried to committ your story to memory and will adapt it to my own childrens’ personalities if and when the time comes. As you can see from my name, I am a bit shy to speak up, so I admire your candor. Remember, you never know how shared information will somehow help someone down the road.
My daughter is a few months from 4 years old. And of course, being that age, she’s gotten colds several times and a (minor) flu at least twice. I see this as a golden opportunity to talk about germs, what they are, and how they can make you sick. I might be a bit lucky in that she’s *very* interested in science, especially biology. Not kidding, when she was still 2 she wanted to know what was “inside” every animal she saw, and one of our favorite bedtime books is anatomical diagrams of all sorts of animals.
Anyway, it seems like when it’s happening, when a cold is going around the family, is an excellent time to explain it. “And sometimes”, I told her “lots of people get sick all at the same time.” And I explained that right now a lot of birds are getting sick, but they’ll be ok.
She’s also started exploring the whole death thing. Prompted by an episode of a childrens show named “Cailiou”, where the kid finds -ironically- a dead bird, and talks with his Mom and Dad about it. So that was a week or two of those surprise questions, out of the blue while you’re driving to the store with the child in carseat and suddenly “What happens when we die?” You’ve got to be ready for that stuff. I must have said “Um” and “Well….” a hundred times before I started a real answer (sort of).
And of course, last week she asked why the flashlight wasn’t working for her, and I told her the batteries were DEAD. She looked at that flashlight (now a little silver tomb) with the saddest, strangest expression for a minute before I realized what was happening and explained.
This thread needs to be kept in front of people.
Book suggestion; if your libraries don’t have it they should: John W. James and Russell Friedman, with Leslie Matthews;
“When Children Grieve: For Adults to Help Children Deal with Death, Divorce, Pet Loss, Moving, and Other Losses”
MaMa; “In past generations children were exposed to the hard facts about sickness and death, it’s only in the last few generations in the developed world that we have tried to hide some of the realities of life and death from our children”
Quite right, and some in other countries, or, other communities, they can’t, or don’t, try to aviod these topics.
If people suddenly had to get children or teens to SIP with no background info, no time for early adjustment reactions, it might be a hard sell, no? And there is enough scary stuff about many things in the news; if they knew you were trying to take precautions/ preparatory actions, wouldn’t that help?
crfullmoon – at 20:57 MaMa; “In past generations children were exposed to the hard facts about sickness and death, it’s only in the last few generations in the developed world that we have tried to hide some of the realities of life and death from our children”
In the last few generations in the developed world we have tried to hide some of the realities of life and death from ADULTS too. The entire process is so sanitized it is artificial.
Parents who are prepping in earnest will not be able to avoid discussing their activities with their children (in age-appropriate ways). My kids know we are prepping and help us. It’s been about six months now that they’ve been actively engaged, and I noticed my nearly 11 y.o. daughter say yesterday for the first time, “Mom, when the pandemic happens….” Up to now, she’s been hoping/wishing it won’t happen. My 8 y.o. son told me he’s glad we’re prepping, but he doesn’t really want to hear any more about pandemic until it’s time to SIP. My kids are both very articulate so can have these conversations, but other kids are just as able to verbalize in their own way if their parents allow them the opportunity and support them in the moment.
Sorry about that!
My 10yo has taken a new interest in what I am doing and gives me grief when he catches me on the wiki! But I’ve approached it as a “being preppared for anything” with an emphasis on natural disasters. He was very upsest by Katrina last year (even participated in a school walk to raise money) so he understands what could happen if there were ever a hurricane here. I don’t want to tell him much more about af unless I have to - he’d tell his siblings and the middle one, who is only 6yo, would freak.
Thanks for this thread. I raised this topic on another thread not knowing of this one. This is an important topic, so thanks you all for your input.
I have been asked to address an audience and I will remember to ask for no children to attend.
Here are some books to help children with the subject of death. I’m sorry I don’t have time to get all the bibliographic info, but I know for a fact you can order these books online.
Resources for Grieving Children
Water Bugs and Dragonflies: Explaining Death to Children — Stickney
When dinosaurs die — Brown (age 4–8)
Sad isn’t bad — Mundy (age 4–8)
After Charlotte’s Mom Died — Spelman (age 5–7)
Gentle Willow
For Adults: Parenting a Grieving Child: helping children find faith, hope, and healing after the loss of a loved one — Poust
Helping the grieving student: a guide for teachers — The Dougy Center for Grieving Children
35 ways to help a grieving child — The Dougy Center for Grieving Children
One day “They” caught me bringing preps into the Utility closet. I had been doing it secretly since the zoo in jakarta closed fall 2005. It must have been January when they finally noticed… or at least said something… “Dad, why are you buying so much stuff and hiding it in the utility room?”… I said “don’t worry about it… its nothing. I just want to have extra stuff around”. I figured they’d think - oh yea dad’s at it again…. and I walked away.
I felt really bad about telling them that. I knew they didn’t believe me and being the good kids they were, just stopped asking questions.
So i went in and told them the big bad truth… and that i was doing everything in my power to keep them safe… That was my job and i was going to do it the best that i could.
We talk about pandemic often. We talk strategy. I run prep ideas by them. They’ve gone through the reaction adjustment with me. I firmly believe that they will be just fine SIP for months. My son is a good guitarist so i bought him enough stings to last 12 months of constant playing. Hey - nightly singalongs. They are very helpful in all chores now and actually wash their hands a lot. They have learned that washing hands often reduces colds.
The strangest thing is that they are aware of the death rate for their ages and that is the main reason for their mature atitude towards it. Since it will affect them the most… they feel as if they need to take control of the situation. They are not afraid.
Kids are 13 & 15 & 20.
For starters, I downloaded those “coughing in your elbow” posters and taped them to the refrigerator. I’ve also ordered some age appropriate books on BF… can’t remember the names… but when they make it in I’ll post. As far as death… I am letting nature lead. My mother passed away in June… we dealt with that. We lost a pet goat to a wild pack of dogs. A family dog was ran over this summer. Those are just natural events that give children an opportunity to learn how to deal with grief.
Presently, I have stuff sitting around in buckets (I wanted to see how much would fit in each bucket) waiting for the mylar bags to arrive. My 13 yo grandson said, “Man, we’ve got a LOT of food! Why?” I told him none chalantly, we always have a lot of food. He said, yeah… but we have more than normal. I explained after last years hurricane I knew we needed to keep more on hand just in case anything ever happened. We discussed how we used our hurricane preps last year. I explained what I was doing with the buckets and how that would help keep the stuff safe longer. The 8 year old had been helping me getting stuff out of the freezer and putting it on the table to dry. He asked why we were doing that. I told him to kill bugs. BIG mistake. Now he is telling everyone and anyone NOT to eat rice or noodles… because they have bugs. He is refusing to eat rice and noodles. I drove him to where they were harvesting rice. Then we went to where they store it in silo’s. I told him that is where the bugs came from, and it was my job to kill them. Still, no go. SO… I made gumbo … with rice. He ate it… gobbled it. All the same, IMHO… DON’T let your gets see you “killing the bugs” in your food! It just isn’t worth the headache!
This is a great topic. One of my girls is 7+ and she’s as sharp as a tack. We never thought she was paying attention to our bird flu conversations until one day she shocked us with “Are you talking about the bird flu AGAIN?” I was floored..so I asked her what she knew. She told me that chickens spread it and that it makes people sick. Well, I thought, that’s sobering. So now she knows that we’re prepping for the family, and whenever we buy or receive something new she says, Boy, you guys sure are prepared for anything!” <LOL> I must admit, though, that I worry about her fear level. I really hope that it is not stressing her out.
EnoughAlready – at 02:33 I downloaded those “coughing in your elbow” posters and taped them to the refrigerator. Great advice, thanks!
Some children do as many adults: say it’s all “this weirdo’s thing” (mom’s thing, dad’s thing, whoever’s thing) - but not really something to take seriously.
But my guess is most will absorb something very clearly: our “deep survival” attitude (yes, I’m talking about the book). We can and should “model” this for them even if we’re dieing inside.
So, IMO, we’d better go through at least the main part of our own adjustment reactions first!
What are the specifics of this particular side of our AR? I’m frankly scared s-less about my own. It looks like I always decide that it’s better to do other things.
Children touch us all, don’t they?
EnoughAlready:
Please share thise with your 8 year old grandson. When you cook your rice or noodles, first put them into a seive or collander and gently agitate about 10 times.
According to WELL-KNOWN food inspector, this procedure shakes any possible critters out and away into the sink, leaving you with clean product.
My mom told me so!
Now, I always believed this. Of course, my DAD told me that the chamois I used to wash his car with, which I knew was an animal skin (and I was at the time a vegetarian!) was OK to use because each year the chamois shed it’s skin and left it on the ground of the mountaintop for the people to gather and sell.
I believed this until I was about 17 I think, pretty gullible, huh! (-:
Rent or buy the movie “Osmosis Jones” and watch it with your children. It helps them understand germs and how their bodies respond to them. Also you can discuss Bill Murrey’s character’s lack of good hygiene. You also get the bonus of a very entertaining movie.
That’s one smart seven year old, wolverine..they are so smart. Great thread for protecting the population as a whole…(lets keep it visible).
My daughters have known we were gathering extra supplies as an emergency prep-type of thing (lol, even the 4 yr old is always putting extra TP and such in the cart…”For emergencies, Mom!”).
They’ve had ample chances to practice, too, between averted house-fires, tornadoes overhead, our water main forever breaking, etc and know the value of being prepped. Due to one of my former incarnations as a preschool director, they’ve also grown up knowing how to cough in their sleeve, use sanitizer, bleach toys, all those germ-reducing strategies.
Last night, however, I talked more seriously to the oldest two (10 and 11 yrs old). I told them that there is a chance the flu could get really bad this winter (didn’t get into avian vs seasonal), enough to close the schools, stores, and such. I also told them that if it got that bad, we’d be staying in the house for several weeks, perhaps much more. (I’m already pretty persnickity about keeping them home if they’re ill so as not to spread it to others; again, a holdover from running a preschool/daycare.)
I was very gratified by their response; they took it seriously but without panic, really thought it through and asked very good questions.
They asked if they could go in the backyard….about what would happen to people who didn’t stock up ahead of time….about ordering things we needed off the internet (but then thought about the truckers and mailmen having to stay home). The 10 yr old asked what we would do with our trash (yay, good thinking!). The 11 yr old asked if there would be power and water (yay, more good thinking!). They wanted to know if the hospitals would be overrun and have to use barns like they did in the Civil War.
They began to realize why we now had a camp stove, crank radio, metal trashcan, etc. Both thought we should buy more vitamins and extra of dd#2′s asthma meds (already done).
They talked about life w/o electricity and said that they thought it could be an adventure. They also figured that there would be some families who might not like to be together that much, lol, but that since we wouldn’t have tv or computer we would probably have more family time. Both mentioned Little House on the Prairie and asked if they could get extra craft supplies to have something to do if they were stuck inside.
I realize that they have an idealized view of SIP (although since we homeschool it wouldn’t be a huge change in some ways) and this time around I didn’t get into what would happen if any of us got sick, or how bad it really could be. But the two older remember when I had West Nile and was incredibly ill and they, then in 1st & 2nd grade, were pretty much on their own during the day.
I also assume that those kind of questions will come up eventually and we’ll just deal with them in a FluWiki kind of way (lead, don’t panic).
For a first pass, though, I thought it went very well.
I don’t mean to be unkind, but that story is more appropriate to the elementary crowd than preschoolders. Changing the words mother and father to mommies and daddies doesn’t cut it to make this age appropriate.
It’s too long, has too may concepts and the concepts are beyond the preschool age group. Stories for this age group, even those that deal with the death of a pet, friend, parent or themselves, don’t get that involved.
If you really want to try to prepare your little ones, get some books from you local public library or purchase them online and save them for when the pandemic actually hits.
Try these:
When You’re Sick or in the Hospital: Healing Help for Kids by Tom McGrath, Tom McGrath (Illustrator), R. W. Alley (Illustrator) Annotation: An introduction to the world of hospitals and illness, addressing questions and feelings faced by sick children
I Miss You: A First Look at Death by Pat Thomas, Leslie Harker (Illustrator)
Sad Isn’t Bad: A Good-Grief Guidebook for Kids Dealing with Loss by Robert W. Alley (Illustrator)
When Bad Things Happen: A Guide to Help Kids Cope by Ted O’Neal, R. W. Alley (Illustrator)
Taking the kids out of school and not going to work will be a good way of explaining the seriousness of a pandemic!
Wouldn’t you have wanted some advance notice, at whatever ages you’re thinking of, Blue?
They should have sent that US Dept of Ed.webcast to the schools for the students to watch, but, since most of the parents haven’t heard we’re in a pre-pandemic alert period yet…
I would just like to comment that preparing(not scaring) our children is the loving thing to do and kids already know much more than we think they do. The story given here is great and even a preschooler will get the main points. I have friends who try to shelter their son from every disappointment and “bad” thing in life. How will he deal with such things as an adult? Who is going to be there to “hide” all the bad things when he is the daddy? Raising a child this way cripples him.
Our children(13, 10 and 4) know about the realities of life because we all experience them together. They know that their father and I do everything we can to keep them safe and healthy but some things are beyond our control. I believe that this is a balanced view of life. Learning that sometimes we cannot change unfortunate or uncomfortable circumstances is a helpful life lesson for all ages. To truly be prepared we must learn that we cannot always have things go the way we want them to be and how to adapt when it does not go our way!
My opinion is that anyone who is not slowly letting their child see the scary parts of life is going to have a real basket-case on their hands when the inevitable does occur.