War

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. As I thought about what to say here in reference to this milestone, much of what came to me feels insufficient. I thought about writing about how to talk with your kids about war, but since many of the parents in our congregation have children who have lived their entire lives within the span of this war, you all probably know much more about this than I do.

I think the most valuable thing I can do here is to open this question up to those of you who have children in your lives. In what ways does news of the war seep into your family’s lives? How do you talk about the war with the children in your life? Click “leave a comment” below to continue the conversation...

Here are some of the links to the websites I found when researching this topic. Perhaps one of these will be useful to you.

Unitarian Universalist Resources:
• “Kids as Sacred As Mine: Parenting and Protesting in an Unsaved World” by Denise Breeden-Ost (http://www.uuworld.org/2004/02/feature2b.html)
• Resources to help Children and Families Develop a Faithful Response to Fear and War, compiled by Pat Hoertdoerfer (http://archive.uua.org/news/2003/iraq/childrenresources.html)

War and Protest:
• Teaching with Protest Songs (http://www.rethinkingschools.org/war/ideas/song173.shtml)
• List of Anti-War songs, with lyrics (http://www.zmag.org/Songs/songarchive.htm)
• Talking with Kids about War by Alvin Poussaint, M.D. and Susan Linn, Ed.D. (http://life.familyeducation.com/communication/war/36261.html)

Kids and the Media:
• Talking with Kids about the Television News (http://www.talkingwithkids.org/television/twk-news.html)
• PBS Parents: Talking with Kids about the News (http://www.pbs.org/parents/talkingwithkids/news/)


May the peace we hope and work for reach those who need it most.