I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that it’s the five year anniversary of the attack on New York. I still feel as affected by it today as I was then. I remember the whole week with a clarity I wish I could remember other significant periods of my life as having. What made it worse was that Adam was working nights at the time; I worked days; and so we never really got together to fathom it all until later, when the media had done the fathoming, processing (and saturation) for us.

Then there was the call to ‘back off’ the graphic content that was shown on our screens. The moment of the planes’ impact and the sight of falling bodies were to be particularly censored. It was, and I was relieved.

Yet I’m starting to see it all again. Considering the significant anniversary, I’m hardly surprised, nor angry, but I don’t know how to react when I see those images and Keira’s in the room; sometimes watching them (but hopefully not ‘seeing’ them).

Should I turn the TV off? Do I ignore them? Do I try to explain what’s happening? (However, I get the feeling if I start explaining; I’ll never stop). And why stop there,––I mean The Simpsons is full of violence, and I know she loves that, so perhaps that’s where I should start?

Maybe she’s a little too little to care. But then, I was seven when the shuttle Challenger exploded, and I remember that vividly. Maybe it’s never too early.

karen andrews

Karen Andrews is the creator of this website, one of the most established and well-respected parenting blogs in the country. She is also an author, award-winning writer, poet, editor and publisher at Miscellaneous Press. Her latest book is Trust the Process: 101 Tips on Writing and Creativity