I, like most of you, have been keeping up on the news and events from Haiti.  The other day while I was reading an article about the earthquake my six-year-old son walked into the room.  The article was filled with pictures of bodies piled up on the side of the road, crying mothers and injured children.  My first instinct was to quickly close my laptop in order to shelter him from the horrific scenes.

Shortly after, I questioned my judgement.  I want my children to be aware.  I want them to know that we are a privileged people.  I want them to know that there is suffering and poverty around us, and that we have a responsibility to help those in need.  So I wondered how I should deal with this situation.

I do want to make one point.  My 6-year-old seems to be quite emotionally mature.  He can understand far more than his younger 4-year-old brother.  So I absolutely consider each one of my children and their demeanor individually.

I decided that I would show him some pictures from the earthquake.  I was careful about the pictures that I shared, but I wanted him to see the physical, structural destruction left from the quake.  I used it to start a conversation about what we can do to help those people.

That was my decision with him.  Like I said, my course of action with his younger brother has been much different.  I let him know that in another part of the world, a lot of people got hurt and their homes were ruined, so we need to think of things we can do to help them.  I was very vague and I tried to focus more on our role than the tragedy.

Helping kids cope with these situations can be tricky.  I did find this article from Good  Morning America which outlines several good guidelines for kids of different age levels.  I found it to be quite helpful and I do encourage you to check it out.

I guess, above all, use your best judgement.  You know your kids better than anybody.