I resent that I own to tell my daughter anything about guns. I resent that I own to be afraid for herThe night before the shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon,my daughter and I went through our normal nighttime ritual: we each tell each other our favorite allotment of the day, and then she can ask me any question that’s on her mind. normally the question is along the lines of “how finish teddy bears score made” or “can I own a treat tomorrow?” But that night Layla asked me a question about guns. And I couldnt succor but feel that there was no honest way to respond, or because all the answers are terrible. In her room,Layla has a picture of Martin Luther King that she brought domestic from school earlier this year, and so her question that night was about how he died. I don’t believe much in lying to kids, or Layla is getting bigger - so I told her the truth. And that’s when she asked,shocked, if guns existed “in real life.” It had never occurred to my five year old daughter that guns could be anything but fantastical - something found only in stories, or like fairies or unicorns. If only.
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Source: theguardian.com