Dear friends –
Presbyterian pastor, the Rev. Sarah Illif McGill, who is a consultant for Children & Worship, posted recently on talking to children about what happened this past week in DC, and I thought I might share some highlights from that post for our parents and as good reminders for all of us:
1. Talk to them calmly about what is happening.
2. See how curious they are and speak with them openly about it - meeting their curiosity level.
3. Talk about looking for helpers.
4. How can we respond as Christians?
This is how I tried to do that in my house: After some of the breaching of the Capitol had calmed down, we turned on the news for a little bit and let My son (age 6) watch (my daughter(age 4) didn’t want to so we let her read a book). My son asked some questions. We pointed out the police officers trying to protect everyone. We didn’t really know much about the shot woman and did not bring that up too much then.
I shared with him a favorite Mr. Rodgers quote: “When you see scary things in the news, look for the helpers. There are always helpers.” Which we are going to talk about again today more. Then have said prayers like this one: “Dear God, help our country. Help us to find justice and peace and to follow you.” We light a candle and blow it out when we say amen. Sometimes each child wants to blow it out, so we relight it and do it again.
Then we are going to talk about what we can do:
1. Pray
2. Stay informed
3. Kids: look for the helpers - Adults: BE the helpers
And talk to the kids about how they may BE helpers too. So. Today we are going to look into ways for them to make the world better.
I’m thankful to Pastor Sarah for her wisdom and for these helpful reminders as we all try to process the past week. Prayers for you and prayers for our country as we continue to weather these days and continue to seek to make the world better.
Grace and peace,
Jess