How Young Children Learn about Terrorism and 9/11 The World
Trade Center shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks began.
CREDIT: Ken Tannenbaum, Shutterstock The attacks of September
11, 2001, were a shocking and emotionally raw event that most
adults, especially in the U.S., still have trouble
comprehending. For children under 14, however, the events of
that day are but a page of history, a modern-day Pearl Harbor.
Now, with the 10th anniversary of these attacks upon us,
psychologists, educators and parents are thinking again about
how best to teach children about the traumatic day and its
aftermath — as well as the complicated threat of terrorism.
"It's such an unprecedentedly scary event of unimaginable
proportions," says Joan Brodsky Schur of the Bank Street College
of Education in New York City, who was living and teaching at
the Village Community School in Manhattan the day of the
attacks. After the attacks, there was a rush of resources and
research throughout the U.S. to help adults make sure kids