Stay Home, Stay Safe.

For Baylee Kraft, age 8. Story by Brooke Kraft. Writing by Wallflower Writing.

I was listening to the briefing from the governor and noticed my 8 year old looking, distracted from her stay at home learning.

I was tempted to shut it off, to shield her from the woes of the world, but I didn’t. I told her she could take a break and she began to watch with me.

She’s the same age I was when I watched as the twin towers fell and the world sank with fear.

To me, this parallel will be paramount in our lives. Now, she and I share an extraordinary view of a world-altering event, at the same age of life.

For a child not knowing much, that day, when the pentagon lit and the second tower toppled, I remember feeling like I knew the world changed.

Quick enough, I was 16 years old, reading about it in history books. Here we are now- the current infrastructure a nod to the fall of the twin towers.

I was scared then, but somehow still hopeful at the unity that follows tragic times, times like today.

Inevitably, there will come a day we will be forced to unveil some pretty tough realities to our kids.

Some realities we will never be prepared to talk about, because some things you can never be prepared for.

But, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t talk about it, because you should.

It doesn’t mean your kids can’t feel what’s happening around them, because they can.

Or, that they aren’t curious – they are. That this can’t be a learning process. Or something they remember- because they will.

I invited my 8 year old to watch the news about the global pandemic, concerning a totally unexpected public health crisis and its effects.

Because sooner than later they’re going to read about this in a text book.

It will be our children who will be responsible for fixing the world that we leave them, just as the one we inherited still evolves.

So, she pulled up a chair and she listened, asked questions and we talked. I hope that one day she remembers this, like I remember September 11th.

And that she remembers being safe at home with her mommy, learning about the world, her share in humanity and doing her part to save it.