Talking with Kids about Current Events

Dear Community-

As parents, our primary goal is to keep our children safe and ensure that they can grow up as healthy and as happy as our capabilities allow. As we speak, wars are raging all around the world. The human casualties are immense, and large numbers of children are being killed and injured in the thousands.

This moment could not be more politicized or polarizing, but the bottom line is that we as a people are hurting. We are mourning the casualties, taking of hostages, and loss of life in Israel. The bloodshed in Gaza has rapidly increased with thousands of children and civilians killed in numbers above 9,000.

As a community, we are in deep grief. We know it’s impacting our staff, our parents, and our students. Even the youngest among us are aware of the world around them, and the emotions of adults even if they don’t read or have access to the news.

At times like these, we are not ever as prepared as we would like to be to communicate with enough nuance to support our community. What we can say is that we care so deeply about each and every community member here at Brightworks and we are trying to take care of each other in the best way we can at this moment. We can also state without equivocation that we are against antisemitism, antiarabism, islamophobia, genocide, and injustice anywhere.

Below are some resources for families and students, and we are looking forward to bringing in more experienced voices to support our education and growth in the coming weeks.

Please take care of yourself at this moment and know that we are here for you. If you need to talk or have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Michlene Cotter, Anthony Consillo, Mackenzie Price, Kenya Strong or Qi Diaz.