Haiti seems to be on everyone's mind and lips these days. Beyond making donations to charitable organizations involved in the relief efforts there's another pressing concern we're facing here and I know many of our friends are dealing with this, too. Our childrens' fear.
"Mommy, can that happen here?" "Can there be earthquakes here even if there haven't been before?" "If there's an earthquake, will we die?"
"I don't know." and "I don't think so." just don't measure up when you know your little guy is being kept awake at night by his busy little brain worrying over the worst case scenarios that his mind can conjure up. I'm always telling Spawn it's okay to say "I don't know.", but it really feels insufficient under the circumstances.
When Spawn was old enough to understand and ask about the World Trade Center bombings and the hijackings, we used a wonderful, age-appropriate Bear in the Big Blue House video that was made to address those concerns of the toddlers at the time. Heroes of Woodland Valley
It's really about trusting adults to take care of you and talking to a trusted adult about how you feel if you're scared or angry or don't know what you are sometimes. It's a wonderful resource that extends beyond toddlerhood. But when it came to Spawn's questions about earthquakes and our safety, I knew knowledge would do more for him than any Bear video could. ;)
BrainPop has made all of their online earthquake lessons and resources available for free to everyone for the next few weeks. No subscription required!
Nothing makes Spawn feel better or puts him more at ease than DOING something about the problem and his fears. We ran another fire drill recently, too, just to be sure Spawn knew what to do and where to go in an emergency. Don't have a home fire emergency plan? Go get one over at FireSafety.gov for Kids. Click here to print out a worksheet to map out your fire escape route.
I ♥ cyberschooling!
Chrissi, Cyber School Mom
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