It's been about a month since the horrific earthquake, tsunami and subsequent devastation in Japan. My mother-in-law called us at 4:00 am that day to alert us of the tsunami warning for the California coast.  As our children slept, my husband and I were glued to the TV for an hour before we decided that we had better get some sleep before our kids woke up. After all, their world had not been rocked.   And, I suppose I wanted to keep it so, for a little longer.

I wondered whether to share news about this disaster with my kids. Could I use this as a "teaching moment" so they know there are things going on in the world that is beyond them? Or would it just scare them into thinking that, somehow, they may not be safe?

Many parents believe that they should openly share news like this with their children.  I understand and respect this point of view.  After all, I can see wanting to explain scary things that my kids may hear from other children or see on TV.  But my kids are not in school yet and so I realize I am still able to shelter them from what the other kids may be saying on the schoolyard.

It won’t be like this forever.  In a year, Elle will be in Kindergarten and my ability to hide the world’s woes from her will be significantly diminished.  So now, while I still can somewhat control what she sees and hears, I made the conscious decision to shield my kids from the earthquake’s tragedy. I figure they will hear enough heartbreaking news in their lifetime that protecting them from this was one small thing I could do to keep their world untarnished just a little longer.

Instead, I tried to use the events in Japan to have some positive impact for my family.

• First, I made a donation to Japan and tried to discuss with my kids how some people need help.  My 2-year-old son had no idea what I was talking about, but my 4-year-old seemed to understand the concept of people in need.


• Second, we assembled our family’s emergency preparedness kit.


• Third, we took the opportunity to review our family’s safety plan and made sure our kids knew to go for cover in a disaster.

A mom’s instinct is to protect her family, and so while I can’t shield them from the “big” things like a tsunami, I am trying my best to protect them by doing some smaller things.

But I wish that I could do something meaningful to help Japan.  This disaster is so much bigger than we are and it’s in moments like these that I am grateful for those companies and organizations who can do so much more than me. Clorox, for one, is making an initial cash contribution of $100,000 to The American Red Cross International Response Fund to support Japan earthquake and tsunami relief.  They are also standing by to respond with product donations such as Clorox® Regular-Bleach (for water purification) as soon as the Japanese infrastructure is ready to accept such in-kind donations.

To all those moms in Japan who wanted to protect their kids but couldn’t, or those who are now bravely helping their families rebuild, our thoughts continue to be with you.   May you all recover swiftly.

Did you discuss the events in Japan with your child?