Okay, Seriously Now...

So this morning the assistant teacher tells my husband they are watching Ice Age this afternoon. My older daughter remembered that the story is about a baby being lost from it's parents and the animals help him find them again. Of all story lines, it had to be that. I put in a call to the teacher and they didn't make it sound too promising that they would get her the message. I decided to call the school again and tell them that I needed to know what time they were watching so I could either take her home or possibly watch it with her. They were very accomodating and said they were watching at 2:15. I went early and met up with the assistant. She immediately started to tell me all of the personal mishaps in her life that week and why that prevented her from getting me the movie list. She then tells me that she only shows G rated movies, apparently she didn't notice this one was rated PG. I started to tell her why the story line was an issue and it was completely lost on her. I tried to tell her that she would never know if it bothered S because she hides it so well. Then the big thing-they started watching LAST WEEK!!!!!! The worst part of it she had to watch alone!!! I can't remember the movie details, but I can pretty much bet that the baby cried when it was separated from his parents. She always reacts to a baby crying. I started to think of ways to help them understand and I think I have some examples they can relate to. Have you ever been scared at a horror film? Cried at a romance? We are adults and know the films are fiction, yet they are able to illicit a huge emotional response from the viewers. Now imagine you are a child who doesn't understand all of that and has been a victim of trauma? Hopefully they will get it. My 18 year old was attacked by a dog when she was 5. She wondered why she wasn't afraid of dogs after that. I explained to her that she had 2 loving parents who were right there with her to comfort her and help her. My youngest had no one, not for any of it. This is constant re-traumatization. I also read about all of us have some PTSD. I will bring up that example as well. Befre, if we saw unattended luggage at an airpot, we would think nothing of it. Post 9/11, we have our guard up. If there was a bit of commotion on a flight before 9/11, we would have been annoyed, now we are scared we are all going to die. I am hoping these examples will hit home with them and they will be compassionate. I am going to have to confront what happened today, there was really no need for me to find out today that they were on part 2 of a movie I never knew about until it was too late. I keep being optimistic that I won't be fighting for her until she graduates, but I think I'm in this for the long run. AND, I'm in it for her to succeed. I'm all she has and I can never let her down.