And they say computer games desensitise children from being able to react to the real world
Mind, they used to say that about French novels.
S, my nearly 12-year old son and I have been watching Band of Brothers over the past few weeks. He’s always been interested in WWII and this is a well-made and thought provoking series. Tonight we watched the episode where the American soldiers liberate a concentration camp. It was very hard-hitting indeed and came as a complete shock to my poor boy. I must admit I assumed he would have come across The Holocaust either in his reading, at school or in a movie. He had, but he hadn’t really taken on board what it was and tonight’s episode upset him terribly.
It’s odd; I want him to know about this kind of thing. It’s important to understand history and I think he’s old enough. But when he told me that he hadn’t known that human beings could be capable of such awful things I felt like I’d opened Pandora’s box for him. Can’t close it again.
Jasmine Said,
May 7, 2006 @ 10:48 am
Although my kids are younger I have thought about this. Obviously I want my 7 year old to be a child and enjoy her childhood but I also want to prepare her for the fact that the world isn’t always such a great place. Very hard to know how to go about it.