My heart is heavy this morning as I prepare to talk to my children about the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and what it means to so many of us. My younger two are easily satisfied with my very honest, but guarded, explanation, but my ten-year-old, who was just a baby on that awful day, has many, many more questions.
For her, and your older kids who are ready to hear more about why this day brings us to easy tears, one of our favorite educational websites does an excellent job explaining what happened and why this day is so much more than another September morning.
In their free animated video called simply September 11th, Brain Pop’s Tim and his robot sidekick Moby visit Ground Zero to attempt to answer, “Why would someone do that?”
The video is just over five minutes long, and covers everything from the attacks themselves to the group behind it. The imagery is far less graphic and scary than what will be all over the televisions today, but in my opinion, it’s still upsetting.You will want to prescreen the video first to make sure it is appropriate material for your own child.
I will definitely watch this with my daughter so I can see where she may be confused, worried or just want to talk things over. Then, I’ll take a deep breath, steady the quiver in my voice, and try to answer her. –Christina
Brain Pop’s free video September 11 also includes additional Q&A’s and an FYI with statistics and other relevant information.
