Explaining 9/11 to a Six-Year-Old

(Psst--this post is kind of political. Consider yourself warned.)

I had forgotten today was another September 11 anniversary. I knew it was coming up, but I didn't remember until they started talking about it on Morning Joe while Prickly Dad was getting dressed (and almost-six-year-old Bug and I were in my bed, having our morning cuddle).

"Hey honey!" I said facetiously to my husband, "I forgot, it's your favorite day! 9/11!" (It drives him absolutely bonkers when he thinks about how the American Red Cross handled its monetary donations after September 11, 2001, to which he contributed. [Don't ever bring up the Red Cross around Prickly Dad.] We're also still very cynical about all the political pandering and grandstanding that went on in the months and years following the attacks. This clip from Family Guy sums it up perfectly.)

"Why is it Daddy's favorite day?" the little voice next to me asked (note to self: try to keep sarcasm in check around the kids).

"I was just kidding around, honey," I answered. But Bug persisted in asking what 9/11 was. So I began, totally off the cuff: "Twelve years ago, a bunch of bad guys from the other side of the world, from a country called Saudi Arabia, came to America and flew giant jet planes into some buildings in New York City and Washington, D.C. it was a very, very sad day for America because thousands of American people died when the buildings started on fire and fell down."

In the split second before my little guy started asking follow-up questions, I said to myself: hang on. How am I supposed to explain the rest of this? A bunch of Saudi-based terrorists attack us, and we respond by going to war with Iraq and Afghanistan ... but not Pakistan -- even though everybody knew that's where Osama bin Laden was hiding out -- because Pakistan is our "ally"? Huh? How does that make any sense?

Bug and I have talked about 9/11 before. He knows it as the thing that happened that made the United States have to fight our current war, but that's about the extent of his knowledge. I suppose as the boys get older, the yearly 9/11 observance will serve as a launching point for an awesome dinner-table discussion about how the government isn't perfect and certainly doesn't know everything.

Never forget.

Bringing Apps to Life

First of all, I want to begin by admitting I let my kids have too much screen time. They're 3- and 5 years old, and they know what Netflix is and that the TV has to be on Input 6 to use the PlayStation. We have multiple Kindles and each of my boys has his own Leapster and/or iXL handheld.

Prickly Dad and I both grew up with a lot of TV (he tells me about doing his homework while watching Godzilla movies) as well as the various other "screens" of the time period (Pong, the many incarnations of Atari, the Commodore 64, followed by all the Nintendos). I've always been a connoisseur of vintage television as well as being fascinated by the capability of computers--and ended up working in the digital media industry before becoming a stay-at-home mom (so my workstation always included at least two computers, a double-monitor, and a TV).

So being a no-screen family was probably never in the cards for us.

Anyhoo, my children's TV-watching habits are a whole 'nother topic...but I have to admit that I actually like some of the Android apps meant for grown-ups, and don't mind my little guys playing. Of course we have Angry Birds and all its incarnations (and even a spin-off, Bad Piggies), but we also like Cut the Rope, Where's My Water?, and now the grocery-packing game Bag It. In my opinion, all these games teach kids not only fine motor skills, but concepts like cause-and-effect ("I have to cut this rope at this time to get the candy to fall into Om Nom's mouth"), simple physics ("I need to pull the Angry Bird down lower in the slingshot to get him to go higher in the air"), or spatial skills ("if I stack these cereal boxes horizontally instead of upright, I can fit more of them in the grocery bag").

Yes, my boys talk and obviously think about these games a lot, but instead of playing on the Kindle for too long a time (which we do not let them do), my little guys take these games into the realm of reality. Yesterday afternoon, to my delight and amazement, Bug and Pie sat on the kitchen floor for almost two hours with the groceries I hadn't had time to put away yet (along with an empty egg carton I happened to have) and played their own grocery-stacking game, experimenting with different ways to balance cans and boxes, learning that heavy items do better on the bottom and lighter ones can balance on top. They practiced sharing, teamwork, and perseverance, and had fun doing it. I really enjoyed watching how their little minds worked (and had the added bonus of being able to get some housework done while they occupied themselves).

It just goes to show that screen time for the little ones isn't all bad, right?

Learning the Value of Hard Work

When I was 11 or 12 years old, my family scraped together enough money to buy an above-ground pool. Back then only a few families in our neighborhood had pools, and if you weren't friends with them, you were out of luck. The pool in the town park and the one at the high school were always crowded and gross. So getting your own backyard pool was a huge deal.

So, when you install a pool, you first have to level the ground in the spot you plan to put it, then put down a waterproof barrier, put down a layer of sand, and then start building the actual pool. I vividly remember the morning the dump truck came, backing itself up to the designated spot, and dumped a mountain of fine-grit sand on the edge of the under-liner.

The reason I'm bringing up this childhood memory is to talk about what happened for the next six or seven hours. That mountain of sand had to be leveled before our parents could start putting the pool together, so my sisters (ages 9 and 6 at the time) and I came to the conclusion that if we could get that sand in place by the time Dad got home from work, he could start putting the pool up, and we'd be that much closer to swimming!

So we gathered up shovels and buckets and rakes and got to work. Of course we took play- and Kool-Aid breaks throughout the day, but my sisters and I actually spent that entire day hauling buckets, raking, and demolishing that sand mountain. And this was by choice.

So, what's my point? I can't see my own boys (or most kids in general) planning and persevering if they were in a similar situation. Sure, they might start the project, but I can imagine Bug giving up after 30 minutes to go play video games and Pie throwing a fit because it's too hard. This really upsets me. I had the privilege of growing up with parents who were (and still are) hard workers who instilled a strong work ethic in their daughters.

The scary part is that I still have my strong work ethic (a trait that I am very lucky to have), but I'm not sure how to pass it on. I will probably ask my parents for advice, but, like me, I'm thinking they will say something like, "I don't know how we learned the value of hard work and perseverance...we just did!"

Enter the good ol' Internet. Here are a few resources I found.

• How to Teach Kids the Value of Hard Work: This article offers six concrete ideas on how to instill a good work ethic in your child.
• 7 Secrets of Successful Parenting: Teaching Kids to Work: In this installment of a parenting series from The Deseret News, the blogger suggests we start chores early--teach the kids to scrub the toilet and praise them for a job well done.
• The Best Thing You Can Teach Your Kids: "Let them see you working hard at something you love and it can’t help but rub off."
• Teaching Children: Work Ethics and the Value of Work.This article from The Examiner suggests (among other things) calling a family meeting to discuss all the things that need to be done to keep a household running--and make sure the kids "get it." Then you whip out the new chore chart.

These articles gave me some good ideas. Firstly, I'm going to insist that Bug and Pie be responsible for collecting all the cups they drink out of during the day and bringing them to the sink to be washed (possibly by them...I haven't decided yet). Secondly, I am literally going to teach my little guys to scrub toilets. I mean, they're the ones who dirty them up the most, so it's just common sense that they should be responsible for cleaning them up, right?

Now let's all get to work!

It's Like a Party in His Mouth!

Last night, right before tooth-brushing time, Bug announced, "Mom! The sugar bugs are having a party in my mouth!" (Sugar Bugs is a cute Leapster app about dental hygiene, by the way). He opened his mouth and asked me to look inside. "See? Look at all of them!"

How often does an opportunity like this present itself?!?

I looked in his mouth and added, "hey! They're dancing! And I think one of them is playing music!" I stuck my ear near his mouth and Bug started to sing. I handed him his toothbrush and said, "get 'em!" As he brushed, I supplied sound effects and dialogue...the "sugar bugs" squealed, "hey! A toothbrush! Run! He's brushing away our party! Help!" I actually got him to do the best brushing of his life as the sugar bugs cried, "He's not brushing his back teeth! Everybody run back there! He's missing his bottom teeth! Everybody go there!" When the whole shindig had finally been brushed away, and Bug spit his fluoride rinse into the sink, we noticed the bubbles and decided they must have been the balloons from the party. Then we rinsed the whole party down the drain.

Of course, Pie decided he had a party going on in his mouth too, so we did the whole act all over again for him. But, hey, it was worth it...the boys both got a good brushing, and got to exercise their imaginations, too!

Politics for Preschoolers

The other morning on the way to school, my almost-five-year-old innocently asked, "Mom, where does Mitt Romney sleep?"

These are the moments I would love to just climb inside his little head and get a glimpse of how my little Bug is processing the world around him.

I told him that Mitt Romney is busy traveling the country right now, so he probably sleeps in a lot of hotels or on a big, fancy bus with beds in it. Bug then wanted to know where the mayor slept (I figured he meant the President), so after telling him the mayor sleeps in his house in Wilmington, I told him about the White House--a special building that the American President lives in, down in Washington D.C. (my kids just happen to know about D.C. because that's where Prickly Aunt lives).

The boys know Prickly Dad and I are big into politics and patriotism (Pie sometimes tries to emulate us by insisting he likes to watch the news): we change the flag outside our house for holidays and elections, and usually have someone's campaign sign out in the yard. We've taken them into the voting booth with us for every election since birth...but I know that what we're doing and the concept of government in general has to be confusing.


But it's never too early to start teaching civics, right? I, myself, don't remember learning about presidential elections until fifth grade (I will totally date myself by saying it was Carter vs. Reagan vs. Anderson--who I voted for in the mock election...I've always been a rebel). There aren't many truly authentic ideas out there for preschool election-themed lessons and activities, but I did find a few that I thought might work for my family.

"Your Vote Counts": This early childhood/primary-age unit focuses on the "one person, one vote" concept rather than simply asking little ones which of the actual candidates they would choose (which is meaningless to the kids--they'll just let you in on who their parents are voting for). This lesson plan features a campaign between Cookie Monster and the Count--fictional characters who want the job as classroom helper/arbitrator. This is a really well thought-out unit, and definitely worth a look.

Duck for President: In this cute children's book, a duck is tired of his farm chores and decides to campaign for change. It provides a good and lighthearted introduction to civics (and coincidentally, someone just gave me a free copy, Yay!)

Rights and Responsibilities: BrainPopJr (which seems to be a subscription-based educational site with some free videos and games) has some good ideas about teaching preschoolers about rights and responsibilities. Encourage your child to think about their responsibilities as a member of a group: the family, their class at school, an American, a human being.

Have you seen any good election-themed ideas for the little ones? I'm all ears (elephant or donkey ears...tee-hee!)

TeachPreschool.org: Blogging On Demand!

I have been following (and admiring) Deborah from www.teachpreschool.org for several weeks now. She has written about the "discovery table" in her classroom: a place where her students can explore materials on their own without the usual grownup-imposed restrictions.

I've been wanting to use my kitchen table for "discovery" projects, as I find myself stressing out a lot when the boys want to be with me--but I have cooking or chores to do (and their "helping" isn't really helping). I want to set up her tin cans and magnets activity as well as "what's inside a gourd?" (I just saw bags of weird-looking gourds at the grocery store this morning...perfect!).

So, last night I left a comment on Deborah's blog asking about the thought process behind the discovery table and how she chooses activities. And this morning I found she'd written the best reply ever--it was like getting an "On Demand" blog post with just the information I was looking for! Now that's what I call service (tee-hee)!

Check out the question and answer at the bottom of this page. It's really good stuff.

Delaware the Beautiful

During tuck-in tonight, Bug asked me to sing him to sleep.

I don't know any lullabies (seriously--how have I made it through five years of motherhood without learning the words to any lullabies?), so I decided to sing "America the Beautiful." Then "The Star-Spangled Banner," followed by "My Country 'Tis of Thee."

As soon as the last note of my patriotic super-set passed through my lips, Bug asked, "can you sing a song about another country now?"

Being a lifelong hockey fan, I do happen to know most of the words to "Oh, Canada." But when I told Bug, he said, "no, I mean a different country...like Delaware?"

After reminding him that Delaware was our state, I explained that all the states share the same American national anthem, and that I didn't think each state had its own individual song. But he wasn't satisfied with that answer...and insisted that I sing the Delaware national anthem.

So I did. Unfortunately I'm no Francis Scott Key, and just ended up singing most of the words to one of the other songs, substituting colors and scenery from the Brandywine Valley for the amber waves of grain and purple mountains majesty (I did squeeze the Atlantic seashore in there somewhere, too, but I probably should have mentioned poultry farms, corporate P.O. boxes, and Punkin' Chunkin', and maybe something about Ryan Phillippe. Or the Vice President. Oh well).

The poignant part of all of this was that Bug truly had no idea why I laughed through the whole crazy song. In his little five-year-old mind, they were all songs about loving the place you live. And that is why I admire my patriotic little Delawarean.

25 Preschool Must-Reads

In no particular order, here are some of my sons' current favorite stories, my personal favorites, and books I would like to bring into our current rotation. The list might seem to be a little slanted towards "boy" interests...but three- and four-year-old males just have a thing for airplane explosions, pirates, and going down the slide head-first, I guess. Enjoy--and let me know if you have any to add!

Fortunately
This was a favorite of mine as a little girl, and now, fortunately, is one of Bug's. Unfortunately, I've been reading it every night for a month!

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
Another throwback from my childhood--plus, it shows children in a poignant way how we, the parents, feel when we're worried about them.

My First Little House

No one can beat Laura Ingalls Wilder's kids-eye-view descriptions of pioneer life, and this series brings that wonder to the younger crowd.

Fun with a Cookie Sheet

In a room full of Christmas toys, what do the boys decide to play with? Their old toy cars, packing cardboard, and a cookie sheet. I'm actually happy to see them use their imaginations and their reasoning skills! If the cookie sheet ramp is propped up too low, the jump is too boring. If you add too much cardboard and make the incline too high, the pull-back cars won't make it over. When you race the cars down the ramp, the heavier ones go further...and all of them go further when you move the whole setup off the carpet and onto a smooth surface!

Wow--who knew a cheapo cookie sheet could be such a useful learning tool?