KIDS AND WAR: How to tell small...

KIDS AND WAR: How to tell small children about the fighting? One approach is offered by Irvine psychologist Iriet Peshkess, a consultant to the Marines at the El Toro air station. . . . She says children ages 3 and under who ask if their daddy or mommy is going to war should firmly be told “no”--and not “maybe.” Ages 5 to 7 should be told, “Yes, there is a war, but we are handling it.” For those over 7, the best bet is to say the war is “a long way from here” and changes at home are unlikely. . . . A former social worker in the Israeli army, Peshkess suggested some books showing that life goes on amid the war: William Saroyan’s “Human Comedy” or the “Molly” series in the American Girls Collection.