9/11 Education

[shawthorne44]

 

So, what do you guys use to teach your kids about 9/11?   

I was just listening to the latest Verdict podcast about the terrorist scum being given a plea deal.   They talked about their experience of 9/11, and I ended up weeping.  I realized that we haven't really taught DD anything about that, and it isn't in any of her curriculum.   I was born in '70 and I was taught bupkis about Vietnam.  I think 9/11 falls into the same hole for my daughter.   Recent enough to be super-duper important, but too recent to be in any history curriculum.  It might be that she's in year 1 of the high school cycle, and we just haven't gotten there yet.  

DD is pretty sensitive (wonder where she gets that from?   I am still tearing up.  It was the tough woman asking her husband what to do.)  So, we've tried to balance giving her a complete education without traumatizing her.  I'd hope that by now there would be something good that gives her the full facts and depth.  

ETA: DH and I were adults on 9/11.  

Edited August 19, 2023 by shawthorne44

[wendyroo]

I've just taught them what I know, and helped them learn any more they were interested in.

I've never kept it a secret from them, but two years ago, on the twentieth anniversary, I spent several hours telling them the story and answering their questions. I kept it personal, and narrative, because I wanted it to be impactful. I wanted them to be able to imagine themselves, not at the site, that would be too traumatizing for my kids, but around the country watching it unfold on TV. I told them where I was, what I knew at the time, what I didn't know at the time, how the world changed that day from my perspective.

We watched a video of the news coverage and the towers falling. We watched a short documentary about all the boats flocking to the water front to evacuate the people. We watched Jon Stewart's monologue from when the Daily Show returned to the air. We read a summary of the Patriot Act. We read an article about the continued rebuilding at the site even 20 years later.

I didn't gloss over who committed the acts of terrorism, but I also didn't dwell on it. I don't think I've ever known their names. I tried to make sure the kids understood that no mainstream religion endorses terrorism and killing, and that also no mainstream religion is entirely free of extremists who twist their religion into intolerance and violence. I also tried to make sure the kids understood, at whatever level they could, that the things they themselves currently think of as true and good and normal...are just the things they have been indoctrinated to believe up to this point. And that in other parts of the world, there are young people living in horrible, desperate circumstances who cling to the beliefs they have been indoctrinated with...and to them, those beliefs are true and good and normal.

There are lots of picture books about 9/11, and over the years I have checked many of them out of the library and brought them home for the kids to read if they chose. But I didn't rely on any of them as "curriculum" because I really wanted to read the room and make sure I was hitting the right note of thought-provoking rather than frightening or depressing.

[tooelitistformegoeleswhere]

For us, one of the big things we do is watch the opening of Smackdown from September 13, 2001. It was the first mass gathering after the attacks, and I've always felt it helps capture what many Americans felt at the time without being too traumatic for the kids to see. It's certainly not the only thing we watch, but it's important.

[cintinative]

The history text we used for modern/contemporary covered 9/11.  Also I am pretty sure the current text my son is using covers it.  We covered it in 6th grade and again in 9th.

Other than that, we have talked about it at various times. I was actually in an airport in RI boarding a plane when the first plane hit. So we have talked about the experience of the day for me and my husband/parents.  

 

[shawthorne44]

On 8/19/2023 at 12:19 PM, wendyroo said:

because I wanted it to be impactful

This is what I want to aim for.  For me it was that horror moment when watching the towers, hearing thinking it was just a horrible accident, and then the second plane.  

[HomeAgain]

For my kids, I've started each study with a magazine I kept from that week.  It is just picture after picture of what was happening at the different sites and the immediate aftermath.  Interspersed are personal vignettes.  Then I fill in the gaps from that day: this is where the president went.  These were my colleagues and classmates hit at the Pentagon.  These are the messages left from flight 93.  These were people who were loved and had lives.  High school is about when they realize humanity's history and not just 'long ago' mentality.  These were people.  They affected your life from a distance. 

But when we start there, it's easier to see how the decisions after came about and gives us a chance to talk about whether legislation was meant to be solely reactive or also proactive in preventing another attack. 

The chance is highly likely that our kids or their friends will be affected by domestic terrorist attacks in their lives.  I want the chance to sit down and think with them about how to deal with their emotional health and the government's role in a country that says it will provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare.  What does that mean and how does that look in the 21st century?  What will be their responsibility as adults on this issue?