I don't expect this to be a popular idea but I suspect it could be a useful and important one. I propose that an academic do a study on 9/11 and toddlers. Find a large sample of children who were of kindergarten age at 9/11/01 and split them into groups: (1) those who knew nothing about the events that transpired (2) those that had an awareness of the events but little information and (3) those whose parents chose to tell them what had happened. Kindergarten age (5/6) is - I think - that pivotal year in a child's consciousness regarding culture and current events. Then you create a battery of questions which you administer to all 3 groups. These questions have to do with perceptions of their home, their community and their world. How they view people they know and people they don't know, etc... The objective would be to determine scores and identify any patterns that emerge regarding levels of comfort, security, fear and so on, among the 3 groups. I have a friend who has told her child everything about the Holocaust. I think this history is important but I just wonder at such a young age (1st grade), how much information is useful and how much information is damaging. Is there an academic out there who has an interest and can help?

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