Perspectives.

After work today, I was in the grocery store and overhead a conversation between a girl about 11 years old and her mother. The girl said, "Today in school we had to write about where we were during 9/11."

"Why would they make you do that? Do you even remember?"

Mom had a point.

"Well," said the girl, "Some kids wrote about how they remembered seeing it on tv. I said that I think I was in kindergarten."


It's an interesting conversation and puts into perspective the question "How much do we tell them now?" In our building, we incorporated a moment of remembrance into our daily "moment of silence." Beyond that, I conducted business as usual. My fifth graders are aware of what "war" looks like. It's on their television every night. Some of them have parents who are active participants. They are 11 years old and were in kindergarten six years ago. Their memories are less personal and based more off of what they've seen in the media in years since.

Keeping them informed, answering questions is one thing. But can we "force" them to remember something that they don't?

Time marches on.