Preserving children’s innocence in a world in crisis

Yesterday, as I watched the news, my son came downstairs from his quiet time. I turned off the TV and found tears welling up inside me. He looked at me and asked if I was sad, and I managed to muster a smile and told him I was okay.

Regrettably, there’s something of immense significance happening overseas that’s now affecting us here. It’s not just from the news outlets but also from the relentless presence of it on social media. These are undeniably heart-wrenching times. As I absorbed the news, several words etched themselves into my mind: Anti-Semitism, hate, injustice, Islamophobia. These are the very things we fervently hope will end, things we pray our children won’t ever have to endure, things that should never normalize in society but have.

My 3-year-old is a natural thinker, always curious and wanting to understand everything. I can’t help but shield my children from the hate and negativity. Why, you ask? Because they are children. They are beacons of innocence, and it feels like we would shatter that innocence by exposing them to the grim realities of tragedies, death and hatred. Their minds are incredibly malleable at this tender age. Their perspective differs from ours; we see right and wrong, black and white, but they see everything in between.

Think about that child who perished under the rubble. We see a young boy or girl, probably crying out for their parents. In my son’s eyes, it’s a child who loves to play superheroes or Barbies. We see an elderly man who lost his life, but my son sees a grandpa who enjoys dancing. We see a mother tenderly caressing her daughter’s hair, while he sees a mother comforting her child because she’s afraid of the dark. Children possess the extraordinary ability to take the tragedies and make them human, to see past the numbers and names.

That’s why it’s challenging. I know my son. I know he’s young, but he’s also incredibly observant. So, am I doing them a disservice by not explaining what’s happening, or am I preserving their innocence for a little while longer? They’re young, and the unfortunate truth is that these things won’t stop happening. We live in a world where we must learn to navigate the turbulent waters of bigotry and hatred and redirect them towards equality and love. For now, while they’re young, I’ll bear the weight of these burdens, and I’ll teach them. Perhaps my perspective will change as they grow older and gain more access to social media. But right now, their innocence is precious and worth protecting.