The Parent Conversation You Don’t Imagine Having

Today as Puddin’ left for school bus we had a quick talk about the facts.

“Yes they found her, yes they sort of know what happened. The basic facts are these: she was taken by a stranger while walking in home in her neighborhood and she was killed. But what is more important is that you and your friends focus on what you can do to be safe. It’s not respectful to her to gossip on the playground about what you and everyone else has heard or have seen on the news about what happened – the right thing to do, the respectful thing to do is to talk about and remind each other how to be safe and to protect yourselves. Until they catch this person you and your friends must be hyper-vigilant, the same old rules will not apply for now. Talk about how you’re going to be extra extra safe.“

Try explaining that to your freshly minted 8 year old girl while squeezing her so tight  you might never let go.