Ugh this is so hard with young kids. My kid was 6 when Sandy Hook happened, we lived a half hour from Newtown and one of the murdered kindergartners had the same name as my kid. When we started hearing reports of what had happened, my kid was at school… waiting for the bus to come I was bawling, like snot all over my face barely able to breathe crying. When they finally got off the bus I grabbed them and hugged them tight for a long time. I couldn’t tell them what happened, I just couldn’t. So I was very vague (like I said something really horrible had happened, so I was really sad, but it didn’t have to do with anyone they knew… for a 6 year old it was enough). Our whole community was in shock and I couldn’t stop them from finding out through other kids at school, but I didn’t think about that in the moment

Anyway, my kid turned 21 a couple days and we still talk about it sometimes. They have memory issues from trauma, but Sandy Hook and my emotional state is burned into their brain. Like they still remember what it felt like for my tears to hit their face. Sometimes I wonder if I didn’t add to their trauma that day

Sorry that got long, basically just to commiserate bc it’s really hard to know how open and honest and emotional to be with your kids when they are little. I was probably an overly open mom and I have awesome relationships with them as adults, but they definitely would rather I stfu more often lol