'Moms Talk' Q & A: How Do You Address 9/11 With Children?

Each week the council will answer a question on parenthood posed to them by readers or another member of council.

This week, the Mom Councils members talk about how to address the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks with children. With the additional attention being given to the 10th anniversary, a whole new set of children will be asking questions.

Let's see what the moms have to say:

Kim Zannetti: Our children were 3 at the time. They really don't remember too much about it. They did question why someone would hate people so much to kill so many.

We took the approach that there are many more decent, good people who help others and want to see the good in people. We pointed to the heroic response of our country and how people really pulled together in a sense of patriotism and doing the right thing.  They have noticed, however, people's attitudes towards certain ethnic groups … interesting how they feed off of others' negative energy.

Susan Jerome: I decided to ask two of my three children since I couldn't honestly answer what they thought about with the anniversary coming up. I asked my two sons, who are 20 and 18. When the initial attack happened, they were in grade school and had no idea what was happening. I went to their school to check on them and they were quite confused that mom had shown up in the middle of the day with tears in her eyes!

They feel compassion for the families who lost a loved one but there was no overwhelming anger or bitterness. They both are strongly against war and terrorism and don't understand its purpose (although I think most of us would like to find an alternative to war). They understand that we fight for freedom but I think they are focused on their future so they don't fully appreciate the magnitude of what happened.

They are old enough that I can be open and honest with any question they have.