Listening and talking to children about their concerns can reassure them that they will be safe. Start by encouraging them to discuss how they have been affected by what is happening around them. Even young children may have specific questions about tragedies. Children react to stress at their own developmental level.

The Caring for Every Child’s Mental Health Campaign offers these pointers for parents and other caregivers:

* Encourage children to ask questions. Listen to what they say. Provide comfort and assurance that address their specific fears. It’s okay to admit you can’t answer all of their questions.
* Talk on their level. Communicate with your children in a way they can understand. Don’t get too technical or complicated.
* Find out what frightens them. Encourage your children to talk about fears they may have. They may worry that someone will harm them at school or that someone will try to hurt you.
* Focus on the positive. Reinforce the fact that most people are kind and caring. Remind your child of the heroic actions taken by ordinary people to help victims of tragedy.
* Pay attention. Your children’s play and drawings may give you a glimpse into their questions or concerns. Ask them to tell you what is going on in the game or the picture. It’s an opportunity to clarify any misconceptions, answer questions, and give reassurance.
* Develop a plan. Establish a family emergency plan for the future, such as a meeting place where everyone should gather if something unexpected happens in your family or neighborhood. It can help you and your children feel safer.

If you are concerned about your child’s reaction to stress or trauma, call your physician or a community mental health center.

An open letter from an upset ally of Islamofascists…

Although Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (March 6, 1475 – February 18, 1564), commonly known as Michelangelo was only 17 when Columbus discovered America, he made a point of knowing the most important characters of the time and incorporati….

As noted in Round 1, this exchange is from July of this year. The format will now be my usual of the original commentor’s points in bold, with my replies interspersed in regular font ……

Celtic Elff asked me to post these. Found via hellosara and good for girls and women of all ages who aren’t happy with how they look. I’ve been there myself.

This post linked to the following:
MacBros’ Place
Conservative Cultu…

From today’s New York Times-

Cleanliness may be next to godliness, but in the airline industry it has taken a back seat to financial survival….

Today’s winner is the Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy James Engle….

Here’s the auction link:
BUZZ PATTERSON 3 BOOK MILITARY FAMILY BENEFIT AUCTION
(Let me know if the link doesn’t work!)
If you can’t bid, that’s okay…please consider posting this on your blog to further the word! Thank you …

http://gazingattheflag.blogspot.com/2006/10/history-is-our-stories-our-new-nation.html

Muslim cab drivers that violate the law by refusing to pick up blind fares that have guide dogs for reasons of religious conscience should not be in the taxi business. Similarly Jehovah’s Witnesses should not open a hospital….

One of the biggest problems on the web is the use of zombie computers to spread spam. A zombie computer contains a malicious program running in the background that sends email without the computer’s user knowledge. Spammers use zombie computers……

I am on bedrest due to surgery on Friday, so this will be a brief link roundup and open trackback post.
Here is a shocker:  Hillary Clinton has thought about running for President.  Of course she had the tact to mention this as she was in a c…

Remember Al Gore’s whining and ranting during the Presidential debates in 2000? Now, an unhinged Harold Ford Jr. showed up, uninvited, to a Bob Corker news conference, crashing the event and angrily confronting his opponent. The video is a must see……

The husband of Donna aka A Cool Change, has passed away. Please go over to ACC and post a sympathy note. Donna, a Florida blogger, has been very kind to me in the past….

Today’s winner is the Sarasota Herald-Tribune….

So, it’s festive times, here in India. Deepavali (I refuse to call it by the other name) and Ramzan. And out in the west, Halloween fervour. So, here’s a very special festive-times Open Trackback Weekend Post.
Enjoy the holiday folks.
…

Check out my virtual auto show. Others making tracks, Samantha Burns’ Open Trackbacks Weekend Woman Honor Thyself , Right Truth , Church and State , Stop the ACLU , Pirate’s Cove , The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles…

I have only heard about this issue on the periphary, mostly from listening to Neal Boortz, but, apparently, two border agents have been sentenced to jail for doing their jobs! (Hat tip Ogre)
Two U.S. Border Patrol agents were watching the Mexican bound…

There came a time after the Creation of Man that God wanted to choose a people to be a light unto all peoples and to be unto Him a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation to proclaim His Message to the world. So God went among the various nations and p…..

Jonah Goldberg, Hugh Hewitt, Charles Murray, Dick Morris, David Horowitz, Brent Bozell III, Thomas Sowell, John McIntyre, Michael Barone, Victor Davis Hanson, Austin Bay, Daniel Henninger, Thomas Bray, Rocco DiPippo, Jonathan Martin, David Twersky, …..