To think protesters shouting"stop killing children"should have thought twice about doing it outside the only two kids shoe shops in town?

[PolkadotCircus]

Trying to get my head round this so advice please.

I have a lot of sympathy re the Palestine situation however today I just had to get ds 9 new shoes.Soooo I dragged the 3 dc(9,9and7) to the only two kids shoe shops in town outside of which was a protest re the current situation in Palestine.The above slogan was pretty much the only thing being shouted.

One of my dc is very sensitive.Whilst we try and explain world events there are things we have to shield him from as he worries,gets scared and can think too much.The other 2 are fine.

Soooo this protest was literally below the window of said shoe shop.Ds froze and bombarded me with questions which I tried to answer.He has since been asking a lot this afternoon re "where do they kill children,why" etc.You couldn't really escape it in town as it was up and down the same street(to be fair the only place to protest).

Now I know my dc are lucky enough to live in a safe country and I know kids shouldn't be sheltered forever from nasty world events(I've explained the crux of the 2nd WW,Afganistan etc)however surely it's up to a parent as to how much you expose kids to and kids differ.

Maybe the phrasing should have been changed?

I'm very pro the right to protest though so can't quite get my head round whether I was right to be annoyed.

Maybe I wasn't,thoughts please.

I don't see how you can compare not telling your dcs the full details of the JS case with not telling your dcs about details of children living in the ME

I haven't discussed the full gory details of either-that is the comparison.

They don't need the full gory details but they do need some sort of explanation that helps them make sense of the world.
Otherwise it is a big scary place that they will struggle in as adults.

See I think if you give too much too soon you make the world into a big scary place.

Have always given good explanations but to some degree slightly sugar coated(for want of a better expression).I guess the question is how much do you sugar coat?

I find it amazing how many people dont watch the news as a family. Always have done, right from babies. Thats graphic.

Or have the car radio on, again words often paint a far more horrific picture.

Cant say, I, DH, or the kids are neurotic from watching planes go into towers, tsunamis, earthquakes, suicide bombers or crimewatch.

Gorey details need to be discussed in an age appropriate way. Mollycoddling doesnt help anyone in the long run, it tends to provde shock when the penny drops the world isn't a fluffy place. Frankly at 9 and 7, there are child soldiers, slaves and factory workers who are in a living hell. A few fruitloops in the street waving placquards hardly compares and ranks as a life changing trauma.

TBH, if at 9 and 7 children don't understand other children die, given the television in day time is littered with starving, fly blown African children drinking out of puddles accompanied by OXFAM/Save The Children begging adverts, they they must lead a very secluded life.

Ophelia when you put it like that I guess you're right.

Re the radio.I stupidly had JV on discussing the woman mauled to death by her dd's dogs in the car.Didn't compute that they were all listening.

They're really jittery round dogs now.

Mine do worry re things like Hurricane Sandy.They saw footage and when dp and I were discussing a far off trip to the States ds(same son as in op) said he didn't want to go as the US had tornadoes,hurricanes etc.No way could I let him watch footage of the twin towers as we'd never get him on a plane.

I guess kids differ.I shelter this son more(I'm suspecting he's perhaps very sensitive compared to most,he still shoots out of the room when Horrible Histories are on except he reads the books ),the other two are far more hardy.Guess this was why I was slightly annoyed-the control was taken out of my hands.

The thing is, the world isn't a neat place where there is a way of reconciling everyone's needs and beliefs. The need for protest against attrocities does not mesh neatly with your need to help your son understand the world. the two things are, in this particular instance, at odds.

It is for you as his parent to decide how you best deal with this, not for others to change how they deal with the terrible thing they are protesting against.

None of us can order the world according to what we want for our children - we can only do our best to guide them through the realities of it. There are people on this thread who have had to help their children through far worse, life-changing things. It's not fair, but it just has to be dealt with.

Don't you just give an age appropriate explanation which is enough to satisfy the questions asked? It is not difficult. I take my lead from ds on how much he wants to know, eg US elections is something he was very interested so we had lots of discussions about that.

Bisjo that is exactly what I do.

I have actually lived in Israel and been subject to rockets being rained down on us indiscriminately so this colours my opinions of Palestinians and what was the PLO in those days. I understand that Hamas have picked up the baton and run with it since. I find it basically incomprehensible that so many right on Mumsnetters are so happy to support the people who have spent the last few years shelling civilians as long as they are Jewish.

OldMumsy we get coverage of both sides of the story and form opinions accordingly. I'm not sure your government's position is helped at all by their actions of today in bombing foreign journalists in two separate places let alone the indiscriminate bombing of children. The fact that your government are at pains to point out that all the 120 rocket attacks today have been accurately targeted is shocking, since those targets are children.

Whats your government bisjo, who are you?

Those targets are Hamas leaders who have chosen to live amongst civilians, how brave.

The only people who have tried to kill me personally have been Palestinians, why would I have any truck with them?

Yep, that sounds about the right level for someone who defends the slaugher of babies.

Have you ever been the region?

Have you ever been to the region? Have you ever lived there? And spoken to the people there?

So having never been to the region means a person can't have an opinion? Riiiight okay then OldMumsy.

Keep trying to justify your racist opinions in any way you can.

Meanwhile,right thinking individuals will continue to be horrified by the actions of both the Israeli government and Hamas.

NopeMiss- unless you are are only buying the shoes made in this country you have a moral obligation to explain to you kids the whys and wherefores of of international geopolitics. My 2 - of 8 and 10 know exactly the implication of the cheap shoes, cheap oil, peace in Europe for the most part. They understand the implication of international outsourcing on the day to day level.

OldMumsy I live in the UK and am British and was very lucky to survive being rather too close to one of the 7/7 bombers at the time he chose to detonate his bomb so I also know what it is like to be bombed and have witnessed and experienced that horror first hand. If you live in Israel I assume your government is the one that runs the country.

As I've said before I think your government's timing is extremely coming a week after the US elections and clearly seeking to involve Iran in a wider ME conflict.

OldMumsy, just seen your later posts. I assume you mean have I been to Gaza? No, I haven't. Have you?