How to tell your kids about the movie massacre

Word of the movie massacre in Colorado shook the masses. As if there wasn’t enough to shudder about, parents had the added thought of how to tell their kids.

“They were watching it this morning at breakfast without me even realizing it,” Luz Beaty said about her grandchildren.

If you decided not to talk to your kids about the shooting, psychologist Stephanie Rosalis reminds us kids have ways of finding things out.

“You want to be the first one to talk to them about it. You are going to be the source of true honest answers without embellishments, whereas if they hear information from their peers, it could be all sorts of information that they’re getting,” Rosalis said.

The tone of the conversation makes all the difference.

“Stay with the facts, the facts that you know. You don’t want to over dramatize or embellish the scale or scope of the situation. That can do more harm in the long run,” Rosalis said.

“We talked about it in those senses, that not everyone is going to be like that,” Beaty said.

Looking ahead to future movie premieres, people stress keeping a realistic perspective.

“This is the worst at it’s best. It’s not going to happen all the time, just a random act of violence expressing itself. All we have to do is fear fear itself,” Beaty said.

“If they’re going to be going to movie theaters, let them know that their community is generally safe. Precautions are being taken after this situation to ensure theaters are safe,” Rosalis said.

“This should not take the joy out of going to see a movie,” Beaty said.

It shouldn’t suck the sweet out of life either. The awful event showed just how good some people can be. Jarell brooks, for example, is the 19-year-old who took a bullet to the leg to rescue a mother and her two young children.

“The littlest one, the baby girl, probably could have got hit in the head,” Jarell Brooks said.

Perhaps just as heroic as risking ones life for another, his current attitude toward the man that shot him — and killed so many others.

“I don’t hate the man who shot me…I feel like forgiveness (is) more bold than hate, revenge or redemption,” Brooks said.