the five-year-old boy i take care of just started kindergarten. today at school they had a september 11th memorial assembly and for the first time, he learned what really happened. (his parents kept him away from the initial events and explained it by telling him some bad people burned some buildings down - they made no mention of planes, etc.) his mom had spoken to the teacher to ask what was going to be said at the assembly because she wanted a chance to talk to him first - so she and her husband talked to him a little bit last night and he seemed okay.
when i picked him up from school today he wanted me to carry him - i don't think he's asked me to do that since he was about 3 years old. we got to the car and as soon as i was buckling him into his seat he said "laura, did they really fly planes with people on them into those buildings?" and i said yes, they did, and he said "why would someone do something that mean?" and all i could say to him was that i didn't know...how do you explain something that makes no sense?