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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>September 11th - Remembrance Activities?
SunflowerMama 11:25 AM 09-07-2010
So this will be my first September doing childcare and I'd really like to do some sort of remembrance activity for September 11th on Friday. I was thinking of something very simple like this...
http://www.abcteach.com/free/b/bookmarks_sept11.pdf
Just have them color them and then I'll cut and laminate for them to go home.
I just don't know how to explain what happened to a group of 3/4yr olds without it being too scary.
I want to present it in a positive way to show how strong and resislent we are as a people. Our country came together and everyone took care of everyone...sending food, money, clothing, water, etc. to take care of those that were hurt, tired and in need and of course all the support from the police, fire and medical workers but how do I gloss over the attacks?? Or should it just be a quick mention that there are sometimes people out there that want to hurt other people but that as a country and group we are good caring people that watch out for each other and are there in times of great need.
Is anyone else doing something to remember the attacks? How are you going about it?
http://www.abcteach.com/free/b/bookmarks_sept11.pdf
Just have them color them and then I'll cut and laminate for them to go home.
I just don't know how to explain what happened to a group of 3/4yr olds without it being too scary.
I want to present it in a positive way to show how strong and resislent we are as a people. Our country came together and everyone took care of everyone...sending food, money, clothing, water, etc. to take care of those that were hurt, tired and in need and of course all the support from the police, fire and medical workers but how do I gloss over the attacks?? Or should it just be a quick mention that there are sometimes people out there that want to hurt other people but that as a country and group we are good caring people that watch out for each other and are there in times of great need.
Is anyone else doing something to remember the attacks? How are you going about it?
Carole's Daycare 11:36 AM 09-07-2010
I am doing patriotic music during music time and some books and color pages to honor soldiers, firefighters and police. I do tell the truth, albeit very gently- with no videos or graphic images which are so detrimental and scary. But let them know there are bad guys out there, but in our country we have a volunteer military, police, firefighters and EMT's that protect us and that we should be so thankful and proud.
gkids09 11:48 AM 09-07-2010
This is a very good question..I have one book that is very easy for the kids to understand (it was written by kids) about September 11th. It is called September 12th: We Knew Everything would be Alright. It is on Amazon.com, but I can't remember where we got it, right after September 11th happened.. Anyway, other than that, I do what the previous poster said: learn about military, firefighters, EMTs, etc. I don't explain things in great detail to the kids because, like you said, it's pretty scary! But this book is GREAT, and really helps me out. 
Good luck!!
Good luck!!
SunflowerMama 11:50 AM 09-07-2010
Originally Posted by gkids09:
This is a very good question..I have one book that is very easy for the kids to understand (it was written by kids) about September 11th. It is called September 12th: We Knew Everything would be Alright. It is on Amazon.com, but I can't remember where we got it, right after September 11th happened.. Anyway, other than that, I do what the previous poster said: learn about military, firefighters, EMTs, etc. I don't explain things in great detail to the kids because, like you said, it's pretty scary! But this book is GREAT, and really helps me out. Good luck!!
I'm heading to Amazon right now!! This is a very good question..I have one book that is very easy for the kids to understand (it was written by kids) about September 11th. It is called September 12th: We Knew Everything would be Alright. It is on Amazon.com, but I can't remember where we got it, right after September 11th happened.. Anyway, other than that, I do what the previous poster said: learn about military, firefighters, EMTs, etc. I don't explain things in great detail to the kids because, like you said, it's pretty scary! But this book is GREAT, and really helps me out.
Good luck!! Thanks!!
Former Teacher 04:25 PM 09-07-2010
Oh yes 9/11/2001. That school year I had the BEST preschool class I EVER had. They were the most smartest, nicest, well mannered children!
I, too, wanted to talk to them about that day. I had to. One of my little students brought it up. She told everyone ALL about Osama. She said Osama was a bad man. Blah blah blah.
Well I had a circle of 15 little kids just staring at me wide eyed. I had to explain to them very gently that while there ARE indeed bad people in our world, there are even more GOOD people who are fighting and protecting us.
After I talked about the military, one of the boys took me aside and was scared that I was going to leave. I had to explain to him that is why we need the military etc to protect. I also had to reassure him and the other children that I wasn't going to leave.
I, too, wanted to talk to them about that day. I had to. One of my little students brought it up. She told everyone ALL about Osama. She said Osama was a bad man. Blah blah blah.
Well I had a circle of 15 little kids just staring at me wide eyed. I had to explain to them very gently that while there ARE indeed bad people in our world, there are even more GOOD people who are fighting and protecting us.
After I talked about the military, one of the boys took me aside and was scared that I was going to leave. I had to explain to him that is why we need the military etc to protect. I also had to reassure him and the other children that I wasn't going to leave.
Crystal 05:48 PM 09-07-2010
I honestly would not brooch the subject with children who have not actually experienced it. They are not inquisitive about it and it's a piece of history that they will learn about when they are old enough to understand the magnitude of it. I'd only talk about it if a child started talking about it, or if they were experiencing similiar trauma in their immediate lives.
marniewon 06:57 PM 09-07-2010
Originally Posted by Crystal:
I honestly would not brooch the subject with children who have not actually experienced it. They are not inquisitive about it and it's a piece of history that they will learn about when they are old enough to understand the magnitude of it. I'd only talk about it if a child started talking about it, or if they were experiencing similiar trauma in their immediate lives.
I totally agree!! It's a very scary event that happened before they were even born. I don't know how you could put enough of a positive spin on it (how safe we are now, etc (which, btw, we really aren't, it could happen again. It would be a lot harder to do now, but it's still possible)) without scaring the crap right out of them. My 13 yo son still gets scared when he thinks about it, so how can we expect littles to understand and be okay with it?I honestly would not brooch the subject with children who have not actually experienced it. They are not inquisitive about it and it's a piece of history that they will learn about when they are old enough to understand the magnitude of it. I'd only talk about it if a child started talking about it, or if they were experiencing similiar trauma in their immediate lives.
When it happened, my children were 4, 6 and 9. Even though it happened during school hours, the school staff chose not to say anything about what was happening to the children except that something happened far away and to ask their parents what happened, so we, as parents, could choose how much we wanted our children to know, based on what we thought they could handle. I thought the school was RIGHT ON for doing that. At that point, I would not have been happy if they explained what was happening to my young children, because I know they would not have handled it well. Nor did I feel they needed to know everything about that day. Since then, we have watched the documentaries, and talked at length about what happened, why, who, etc, but that was when they were a lot older and could understand it a lot better and not be terrified of it (any more than the rest of us were, anyway).
I may be in the minority here, but I would not want my dcp telling my kids about 9/11, not any aspect of it. If I thought they were old enough to hear it, they would have already been told. Personally I would talk to parents before doing a program like that. Actually, personally, I would not do a program like that with such small kids. I would probably do a "salute to servicemen/women" including military, emt, fire/rescue,police, etc, to honor those who gave their lives and risked their lives to help out 9/11 but I wouldn't bring up the why of that day.
My 2 cents
melskids 02:42 AM 09-08-2010
i agree with marniewon and crystal.
mac60 03:07 AM 09-08-2010
I would not bring it up or discuss it. My own children were in elementary school when this happened, and I was not happy at all when they came home and said they watched it throughout the day in school, some things should be left up to the parents to decide whether or not their children are put in contact with certain situations. The school had no right to make that choice for me.
Unregistered 11:22 AM 09-10-2010
I think it depends on how much that day impacted your life & surroundings. My children were very young when 9/11 happened and we lived only about 20 or so miles away. That day was so distressing that many moms & dads pulled their kids out of school right away.... including me. Our town lost a good amount of people and many volunteered at ground zero (including my husband). My husband is still there working on the Freedom Towers. So where I live, it is still a very big deal.
During the weeks after, most of our schools did go into detail explaining what happened because so many children were going home and seeing those graphic scary pictures on every tv channel. Since many children were affected by that day, it was understandable to commemorate the following anniversaries (even for the kindergartners). But those kids have grown up and I think today's toddlers don't need to be told by their teacher - it would be like explaining Pearl Harbor to a 4 or 5 year old. I don't believe that they could even understand the concept of it. They can learn about it when they are a little older. Some families commemorate it more than others because it has touched them personally, so I'd leave it up to them.
During the weeks after, most of our schools did go into detail explaining what happened because so many children were going home and seeing those graphic scary pictures on every tv channel. Since many children were affected by that day, it was understandable to commemorate the following anniversaries (even for the kindergartners). But those kids have grown up and I think today's toddlers don't need to be told by their teacher - it would be like explaining Pearl Harbor to a 4 or 5 year old. I don't believe that they could even understand the concept of it. They can learn about it when they are a little older. Some families commemorate it more than others because it has touched them personally, so I'd leave it up to them.