I’ve been wondering how to talk about the war in my own house with our son, and I’m sure other parents feel the same. Did you know there are currently over three dozen wars going on worldwide? That’s close to 40 conflicts! We have heard about the Russian / Ukrainian war the most this month, of course, but I imagine if you are living through one of the almost 40, then the one outside your door feels the biggest to you. But, of course, we could be any of those people stuck in a war-torn country had we just been born somewhere else.
I don’t pretend to have all the answers because war makes no sense to me, quite honestly. I mean, I know what it’s about, but I can’t understand having the desire to go to war. It all feels so senseless and without justification to me.
So how do we talk to our children? I found a few sites to help us all.
My son, Tom, drew a drawing the other day about war. He said he was battling to protect the world and plants within his picture. I know this is his way of telling me that the future of our world scares him and that he’s worried about the conflict that he hears about coming to where we live.
Tom also told me that he wants an underground bunker when he grows up because, as he put it, you never know when a war will start or another deadly virus will break out. It made me sad that he has had to live through so much at just nine years old. But then again, I was reminded of all of the children living in war-torn countries currently. He’s living a charmed life in comparison. Part of what I’m learning about talking to our children about war is not to diminish what they are feeling but rather listen to what they are feeling. To his nine-year-old mind, he is living through it. These world events are a big part of his life, and I don’t want him to feel like his feelings don’t matter.
I will use these tips to help talk with him and do my best to help us both make sense of it all. All we can do is take care of those around us, day-by-day, while educating ourselves on how we got here through listening, learning, and compassion. - Erin