My kids are still little so I haven’t faced this yet, but today at the masjid, a 10 year old girl and her siblings were very concerned about terrorists.
She said that she saw it on the news and being from Afghanistan, she has heard her family talk about it and the safety of their folks back home.
So she brought the topic up at a discussion about something else in class and asked the teacher why we muslims are considered terrorists.
So of course we told her about true Islam and how every religion has some bad people but mostly good people and that the handful of people who don’t know that Islam is a religion of peace don’t listen to the right sources and do what they want to do. We also told her a bit about media and about wars for land and justice and all that…
So parents, friends, if your child were to ask you, what should and would you say?
Tricky topic. Kids sure do ask a lot of tough questions esp' my nephew. Lol. I think it is important for our children to understand the root causes ot terrorism and what can be done to prevent them.
From what I have seen from my little cousins, nephews etc (ages varies), kids can't comprehend what war or terrisoms is. They get confused over what they see on TV e.g. the recent Lahore incident - but kids are smart and they do realise that something serious has occured.
I tell them the truth. I think they would become more worried if they thought I was afraid and hiding the facts from them. I keep the facts simple and brief particulary with my young nephew. He asks a lot of questions for his age, why it happens and what will happen to him afterwards etc? I explain to him why war happens and what the possible effects are. I explain that there are a few horrible individuals in the world but tell them that there are only a few as I don't want him to become more scared. The overall message is that sometimes a few terrible people do horrible things to other people.
Don't look anxious or scared as we have to reassure our kids that they are safe and so are the other important people in their lifes. I remind my nephew that there are lots of people whom we can trust and are keeping him safe e.g. police, fireman, doctors, army, his parents etc. :)
I want to keep my kids away from the war and fighting news just as from violence and sexual stuff for as long as its possible.
Recently I was talking to my husband about that psycho who attacked and killed babies in a nursery in Belgium and my 4 years old was listening everything (I thought he woudn't understand) but for a week or so he was kept on asking me about the psycho.
^ Yeah I agree a 4-year old child is too young too see that kind of stuff. I always make sure that I change the TV when any violence comes on as I don't want my daughter seeing that.