Once in a while, this happens...

We work with a lot of people through One Million Bones and our Students Rebuild partnership, everyone from school age children to adults.  Not very often, but once in a while, we find that there are adults who aren't comfortable with the subject we are talking about, especially when it comes to young children.

We understand that.  

But the root causes of genocide exist everywhere, and there are ways you can talk to children about what's happening around the world in a way that they can understand, and in a way that relates to their lives.  

We talk about virtues.

We talk about acceptance, tolerance and appreciation of other people.

We talk about resolving conflicts with words.

We talk about teasing, bullying and standing up for people.

OMB has resources on our website for teachers and other adults interested in intergrating the project into their classrooms or other educational work.  We also provide links to some of the most respected sources for teaching about genocide and intolerance.  You can find it all under the educators tab.

What we think is most important is to recognize that children are brilliant beings who want to know about and understand the world.  It's important to share all the beauty with them, but we have to figure out how to teach them about the other things as well. The world changes when children learn early on how to be different, how to be better, how not to make the same mistakes of the people who came before them.  

This is a quote from an article that Naomi had on the Huffington Post last week that really captures it:

"Out of [our] work come hundreds of conversations about what we value, human rights, our global connectedness, and personal responsibility. In New Orleans many times these conversations lead to stories of personal encounters with violence; unnecessary and unexplainable violence that some of these students are left to consider and deal with every day in their own communities. One of my favorite stories was from two young girls who were sitting next to each other in class. They explained how they didn’t like each other at all when they first met but were persuaded by another classmate to get to know each other. Now they are best friends, and their love for each other is absolutely visible. When one of the girls became emotional recalling a personal account of intolerance and violence in her family, her best friend wrapped her arms around her and held on for a long while.

These children completely understand the idea behind One Million Bones.  They made their own bones, from their own stories, but recognized that they were also making them for people all over the world who were not seen or valued in their communities or by their governments. I promised that we would bring their bones to Washington so that world leaders could bear witness to their actions."

What do you think?  How have you talked to young children about difficult subjects?