Book recommendation

[mahogany]

Brundibar . The book is worth it for the illustrations alone. Amazing stuff. The kids have been nagging me to read it to them several times a day, though the kids are so busy saying their favorite parts, I can barely get a word in edgewise :-).

The book certain brings to mind a question that has been rattling around in my brain for quite sometime, which is when and how, and to what extent, do I tell the kids about atrocities such as the holocaust? I’ve made a brief mention of it to the children, but I haven’t gone into too much detail.

Comments

[daisan.livejournal.com]

When Kaden and I say our nightly prayers (which is not nightly by any stretch of the imagination, but does take place at night, heh) we do the "God Bless." We run through all the people we know, alternating so that I say "God Bless Nunnu," and he says, "And God Bless Nana." I always tag on a couple things that I know he doesn't understand yet, like, "And God Bless all the little boys and girls who didn't have enough to eat today," or "God Bless those children who aren't allowed to go to Church," or something like that. Only one or two, and always generally phrased, just so he's aware that there are people in the world who don't live with his luxuries.

I figure at some point, the ideas will sink in and he will ask me about what life is like for those children, which will open up a discussion about how great freedom is and what we can do to help them, etc etc.

I think you're right not to go into too much detail. Let them come to you with questions. Sooner or later, they'll become aware of it and will want to know more.

[mahogany.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, my kids have come to me with questions that I had hoped not to have to answer for a while. It's a tough call. I try to be honest, without burdening them with informationt that they're not ready for. But I guess that's part of parenthood - stuff always comes up before I'm ready for it to happen. I'm just flying through this motherhood gig by the seat of my pants, I tell you :-)

[tarapaul.livejournal.com]

It's funny that you mentioned this, because James (who is 4)has been asking a lot of very pointed questions lately about war and soldiers, good and evil, God, why and how James is the person he is.
I was talking to my neighbor who told me a little story she heard elsewhere.
The moral of it was that we should wait until kids ask, and even then, there are subjects where the burden is still too heavy for them and it is not for them as children to carry quite yet. I know that I want James to be a critical thinker and I want to give him the information he asks for, but your kids are not asking yet.
This is just my opinion. I want James to know about evil, and one day I will certainly sit down and talk to him about the Holocaust. Just not yet.

[tarapaul.livejournal.com]

I didn't explain that completely well. I wanted to add that I do talk to him about good and evil in terms he can understand and on a smaller scale, so that one day we can lead up to the bigger and harder questions when he is ready for the information and he has some tools to handle it.

[mahogany.livejournal.com]

Actually, N* did ask...which is why I mentioned anything about it at all. Brundibar makes sense and works well on its own as a children's story, but it makes more sense - especially some of the illustrations - if you understand the context. He was asking me what was up with the last picture (it's a bit incongruent with the rest of the book), and I had to explain a tiny bit about Terezin and how the story is based on an opera performed by the children in Terezin, and the final picture depicts them the way the really were etc. etc. etc. And of course, then he wanted to know what Terezin was, and why were the kids there, and well, you've met him...it's not exactly easy to get away with evasive answers.

[tarapaul.livejournal.com]

I completely understand. If N is asking, that makes it different and I do know that he is not easily redirected to another subject! I also know the book so I understand that there is a whole lot more being told by the pictures.
The story my friend told was...
A girl asked her dad a question. They were on a train and he handed her his very heavy suitcase and told her to carry it off the train. It probably weighed more than she did. The girl tried with all her might to move the suitcase and succeeded only in moving it a very short distance.
The father said, "I will carry this heaviness for you. This is like the question you asked me, you are still too young to carry the burden and what kind of father would I be if I didn't carry this weight you for awhile longer until you can manage it for yourself?"
I know that would probably not satisfy N...just as it did not satisfy James when he asked me questions yesterday about the World Trade Center (I was listening to "Sounds Like Canada" on CBC yesterday and Canadian women who lost husbands in the towers were being interviewed)
I am starting to learn that with James, there are times I have to say to him that I need time to answer the question, that I cannot answer it right away, because I need to think about it. That there are things that even adults have trouble knowing the answers to, all adults. I did give him some information about Sept. 11th, just not all of it.
James asked me a few weeks ago how God knew to give me the seed who God would make into James and I would grow in my body, and how God knew to make all his parts and all the hairs on his head (because they're numbered, you know!) and how God knew that person would be the James who is my son.
Yikes!
Later he asked me if praying to God is just the same as talking to an imaginary friend (James has had one for a couple of years now) and whether it was all just pretend.

[tarapaul.livejournal.com]

I am having trouble with edit.
It was supposed to say,
James asked me a few weeks ago how God knew to give me the seed who God would make into James and would grow in my body, and how God knew to make all his parts and all the hairs on his head (because they're numbered, you know!) and how God knew that person would be the James who is my son.