How to talk about the news with your kids

At the beginning of last week I set out to offer ideas for how to talk to your children about the persecution of Christians in Iraq. Throughout the week I posted through the Celebrated Family Facebook page articles and ideas to encourage you.  This post was supposed to go out last Thursday with five ideas for talking to your kids. The post didn't come out because I didn't have any ideas for you, or for myself.  Last  week I was so sad, there was so much horrible news, and I wasn't sure what to do with it all.

• The unfathomable news from Iraq and the atrocities being done not just to Christians but also to Muslim women.
• Israel
• Ferguson
• Robin Williams
• The news within my church family of deaths, separations, and terrible diagnosis.
• The news of a childhood friend's husband going into cardiac arrest.

I tried somehow to shove all that information, and pain, and worry into my brain, and heart, and prayers but it didn't fit.  It just didn't fit.   I wanted to just turn my eyes and heart away from female genital mutilations,  mountains full of refugees, and a world that seems to be crumbling, crumbling, crumbing.   So how am I supposed to explain any of this to my kids? What are the neat and clean steps to being a good mom amidst all of this?  Don't we all love a post that gives you 5 steps for doing anything perfectly? So I took a little media fast for the last few days, and spent more time praying than reading news reports.  Here are my 5 suggestions, not steps, and I'd like to ask for your suggestions as well.  After reading this, will you share in the comments how your family deals with talking about the news?

1. Have a purpose in sharing news with your children:
The above list was just last week's news.  This week there will be a new list.  Our children should not be exposed to all of it.  Discern through prayer what your children needs to know and why.  Share those stories with a teaching purpose.  What do you want your children to learn from this story?  What is your family's response, if any, going to be?  (Prayer, giving, raising awareness?)

2. Talk about a news story for more than 5 minutes:
Our country has a tiny attention span.  I tracked stories in Iraq last week on FB and watched how they disappeared as new stories came to light and the country rallied around them - at least for 5 minutes.  If you share a news story like Ferguson, or Iraq with your children, continue to talk about that one story.  There are still refugees on a mountain, tensions are still rising in Missouri, even when another story comes to light later today.  It 's better for our children to understand one event and the resolutions that unfolds over time, than to be brought up on snippets of 100 stories of which they have no understanding.

3.  Get a map:
When talking about a news story, get out a map.  Show your children where Iraq is located in relation to where you live.  Kids often struggle with not only geography but understanding that the news story you are talking about is not nearby.  Will IS(IS) come to your neighborhood tomorrow?  No, Iraq is very far away.

4. Don't bow to political correctness:
This may sound like terrible advice, but in the last 20 years we have become so politically correct that we can't actually speak truth.  Speak truth to your children and don't worry about being politically correct - be factually correct.  Ferguson is about race.  There is genocide going on in Iraq driven by extreme Islamic beliefs.  Robin Williams struggled with mental illness and drug addiction.  We need to speak uncomfortable words because they are the truth.


5.  Keep Heaven as your context
We should view all news stories through the context of Heaven and Jesus.   In light of Heaven, these moments are short.  Through Jesus this will all be redeemed - and that time is coming soon.  Once we set that hope in the center of our hearts, we can take all the horrible news and place it in the context that this world is passing and Heaven will be forever.    This might sound simple minded to suggest, but it's the truth.   Jesus and Heaven are the only structure to give ourselves, or our children, about the world in which we live.  We can hold lemonade stands to raise $37 for the refuges.  We can vote for a different political party next November.  We can change our Facebook picture to show solidarity.  We can do all these things, which are good and often important, but if we try to make them our way to handle the world's pain, we will always fall short, we will always be overwhelmed, and we will always miss the hope that God offers to us.

What are your suggestions? Please share them so we can encourage one another this week.