Would You Buy Your Child This 9/11 Coloring Book?
September 11 is fast approaching 10 years since the World Trade Center attacks and already parents are wondering how to answer their kids’ questions about the historical event. I’ll tell you what I won’t be using as an education tool a children’s coloring book titled We Shall Never Forget 9/11: The Kids’ Book Of Freedom. Intended for kids around six to eight years old, it features graphic images of about-to-collapse World Trade Center towers and a Navy SEAL firing on Osama bin Laden, who’s cowering behind his wife (there’s even a bullet in mid-flight).
Pretty messed up, right? Already there’s a big controversy brewing over the coloring book because of its one-sided narrative. But according to Really Big Coloring Books’ website, the book is designed as a tool for helping parents teach children about the facts surrounding 9/11. “The book was created with honesty, integrity, reverence, respect and does not shy away from the truth,” the site reads. “In this book you will see what happens to a terrorist who orders others to bomb our peace loving wonderful nation.”
No matter what your political or religious beliefs, I think it’s plain weird to have your children coloring in these types of graphic images (I mean, really). It would be a bit like letting them watch 9/11 & The War on Terror, Mike Huckabee‘s “educational” cartoon about 9/11. There has to be a more tactful and age-appropriate way of teaching our kids about historical events while assuring them that they are indeed protected and safe. Call me crazy, but getting them to color in bullets and terrorists seems totally idiotic.
(Photo: coloringbook.com)