Summary: Today hundreds of thousands of children will return home from school with stories about the bombing in Boston. Some of what they say and have heard will be factually accurate, some will be exaggerated and some will be completely made up - but there will be a thread to their stories that will be powerful and enduring. "This could happen to me and people I love." "There could be a bomb anywhere." "I am not safe." These ideas will be the take-away for many children and as children make sense of the world through stories - they will find more narratives to support these statements. So what, as parents and educators and healers, can we do? Tell them a different story. Not a story that negates their fears because we all know that darkness, danger and disaster is present in the world. Tell them a story that has room for the darkness but that tells another truth: that there are so many helpers in the world - that the helpers will do everything in their power to keep you safe - that goodness and beauty is everywhere. So tonight, consider telling your child a story of your own making. Try to move past the common hesitations around storytelling: that the story might not be a 'good' story or that you might not tell it well. Your children don't need you to be masters - they only want you to tell them about the world in a language they can understand. The story could be about anything that is important or dear to you or your child. Last night I told a story to my children about geese flying north to return to their summer homes. The story was about a young goose who was attempting the journey for the first time. The further they went, the more elated and powerful he felt - until, on the final day, he realized that some of the geese didn't make it - that some met with unexpected tragedy along the way. Then it was the job of the older geese to tell the younger goose that they are all together - that they made it home - that they will miss those who did not make it - and that they will always be there to help him and to keep him safe. Whatever message you want for your child, instead of explaining things to them - just tell them a story. It is their language. It is how their developing minds work. When the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut stunned the country, we wrote and recorded a story about a young girl named Lee who loves her little black dog Prince. But one day, Prince is suddenly killed by a speeding car. The girl not only has to come to grips with the abrupt loss of her dog, but she also manages questions like “Who was it? Why didn’t they stop? How could they do it?”. And the ultimate message from her loving parents is this: We love you. It is OK to be sad. We are holding you. And we will do everything we can to prevent this from happening again. It is available for you and your family to use in addition to the stories you tell them of your own making. This story has no Sparkle advertisement or copyright tag. It is only intended as a gift to support families who may find it useful. Feel free to download and share or email this story as often as you’d like. We give permission for it to be shared freely. We send our prayers to the families of Boston and to those who traveled there for the Marathon.
