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 How much should you tell? 
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Today in class, we got into a really interesting discussion about children, and how early we (including teachers, parents, friends, the culture in general) should begin talking to children about some of the heavier topics of life.

We talked about child labor laws today, and most of the children who fall victim to those horrible conditions are as young as 4 years old. Is it appropriate to discuss these kinds of issues with a 4 year old, who if living in another country, may be under the same circumstances as a sweat-shop child?

Where do we draw the line in protecting a child's innocence and empowering them with the personal skills they need to deal with such overwhelming issues?

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-Allison Sawicki


Thu Feb 15, 2007 5:10 pm
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I think that children should learn about child labor laws at a young age. I think that if we hide it from them, we aren't protecting them, we're just feeding them the idea that there are differences between "them" and "us." The students we will have in our classroom are the future leaders of this country. If we can create empathy for children in other countries who are being subjected to child labor, our students may be inspired to make a difference.

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Katie David


Mon Feb 19, 2007 9:34 pm
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I was recently in Atlanta with my fiancee with a cheerleading team that she coaches. One of the other coaches fiances is in the army and was with her at the competition but had to leave for Iraq on Sunday. So Sunday he had his uniform on and some of the cheerleaders who are in 1st through 6th grade asked him about his dog tags. He told them that the ones around his neck were in case he was killed they would be able to know who he was. They then asked him about the ones in his shoes and he told them the honest truth. He said those were in case he gets blown up they know what body parts go with the body. I just thought it was interesting that he told them the very blunt truth and they didn't seem too bothered by it.

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Dustin Hull


Tue Feb 20, 2007 1:06 pm
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I think that there is normally never an age too young to be truthful with children...you just have to know how to word it. We can't keep our children in the dark, as teachers we need to inform our students of real life issues. They are going to find out eventually, don't you want them to find out in an appropriate manner and with accurate facts. We should create a safe enough classroom environment where students feel safe and comfortable enough to talk about serious life issues.

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Susanne M Olson


Wed Feb 28, 2007 11:57 pm
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I agree that we should be truthful with our students/children about real life issues. I think that there is a certain way you should go about discussing things depending on the age. I know when I was younger even if I did not know 100% what was going on I knew something was wrong or something was going on that was big but I was not "allowed" to know about.

This topic reminded me of what 9/11 happen and there was a special on TV that had a group of children of different ages discussing what had happen. I think that children should not be sheltered from what is going on because I believe that because they had the facts and were not hidden from the truth there was less for them to be afraid of and they could have a better understanding of what the world is like. It is so easy for students in the United States to not see the "whole picture" because they are isolated to the United States and have not been given the chance to broaden their view because they have not traveled or had the opportunity to experience what it is like for others who live in other parts of the world.

That may have been a bit of a tangent, but I wanted to share!

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Krystal Tarnaski


Fri Mar 02, 2007 3:36 pm
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I agree with Krystal. I do not know as much about other cultures way of teaching, but I know that the United States definately shelters children. Kids can handle more than we give them credit for. Their insights and ideas are amazing, and they have a more clear view of what is going on that we do at times. I think we need to be straight up with kids, but do it in a way that we don't scare them from the world. We need to be honest starting at a very young age, instead of throwing all the bad aspects of the world at them when we think they are "of age".

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Lauren Cagle


Mon Mar 05, 2007 2:41 pm
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If children, the same age as our students, are working in sweat shops and dealing with these realities everyday, I think our students can handle learning about them. Being the same age, students may imagine how life would be if they were those children and gain empathy.

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Sarah Concra


Thu Mar 22, 2007 1:41 pm
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