Being a parent can be disheartening in an age where violence and discord seem to be the only offerings of our non-stop news cycle. The world around us is a frightening place, full of natural disasters, shootings, sexual assault, war, spousal abuse, myriad “isms” that dehumanize their subjects. We are bombarded with imagery we believe should be relics of a past, less-civilized, time.
Unfortunately, children are often the recipients of these negative messages. Sometimes their awareness of world events comes despite our best efforts at sheltering them.
For example, in 2012 our family lost a friend in the Sandy Hook shooting. I would have preferred to keep my children ignorant of this type of occurrence, but the choice was taken from me. Someone we loved died as a result of the exact same type of violence Rep. Eric Swalwell grieved over in his tweet about the recent…
