How Did Your Children's School Handle the Newtown Shootings? As our children begin to come home from their school days, many may be describing how their schools did, or didn't, address the tragedy in Newtown, Conn. A number of parents have forwarded to me their schools' stated plans. In one Catholic school, the principal attended morning meetings for the younger grades in case of questions (there weren't any), while the older grades (fifth and up) held a vigil for peace. Other schools, including the one my children attend, sent around various suggestions or links for parents to use in talking to their own children, with a stated intent of not starting the discussion. One of the best of those links, particularly for parents of young children, but really for all of us, was to the Fred Rogers Company, which has an excerpt from the Fred Rogers Parenting Book on "Tragic Events in the News." Ann mentioned it in a comment in an earlier post. Mr. Rogers writes: When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping. To this day, especially in times of "disaster," I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers - so many caring people in this world." But while schools, like parents, may or may not have planned to have hard conversations (or safety drills) today, many will have had to deal with unexpected questions. A fellow parent described to me, this past weekend, the fury he felt when a well-meaning pastor declared a "moment of silence" and then said a prayer that left little about the shootings undescribed immediately before a children's performance. That father hadn't planned to talk with his kids that day, but he did. I picture schoolteachers experiencing similar moments in their classrooms, and finding it hard to balance the curious and media-savvy children with those less aware, or those who need space to simply accept this information but not dwell on it. How did an intent not to raise the question of school shootings play out in your children's elementary schools? Were your middle and high school students drawn into productive discussion, or pushed to consider things they would have preferred to set aside for now? Are you happy with the way the school did, or didn't, discuss safety and violence? Teachers, did things go as planned?