Reading the Paper

As parents we shy away from letting our kids watch the news. Why? Because the news is filled with violence. There are images of burning cars and blood splattered terrain after bombs have gone off. I ask the husband to change the channel. That is my solution to global problems- change the channel.

Yes my children are young. Yes they are impressionable.

But what of the children who are displaced? Who have seen infighting and untold misery? Should we tell our kids about those children or should we pretend that such a world does not exist?

I tell stories instead. Peanut and Growl, my boys, read the paper so often. They want to see every car advertisement they can get hold of. Occasionally, they see the picture of a poached elephant or tiger. Yesterday they asked me about Obama as he spoke glorious on screen. They tell me that the cars in a picture are on fire. They take violence in objectively. I try to keep them focused on cars and sports and positive news pictures but they seem to know already that the world is good and bad.