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Show noma raraaiMag wmm liar out of me. I'm afraid our forefathers are turning in their graves about now, and my daughter no longer takes me too seriously. And now that I've put my foot in my mouth, and we are fighting the war that I assured my daughter would only happen after due process, pro-cess, she takes what I say with a grain of salt. To her Saddam Hussein Hus-sein is not just someone with a bad haircut, he is the stuff her nightmares are made of. I don't even think horror writer, Stephen King, could think of a better scary story than Hussein is now supplying us with. And we have the opportunity oppor-tunity to watch his antics over and over again on T.V. nightly and wonder why our kids are asking us questions like, "What happens to the prisoners of war after they are captured?" Who knows? And further fur-ther more who wants to know! 4 So now as I tuck my little one in at night after the dishes are done, I assure her that all is well and hope she sleeps through the night without waking with bad dreams of Scuds and heat seeking missiles. And hope that the day will come when we have only good dreams and that peace on earth good will toward men will once again be in force. And so how does one explain the war to a 9-year-old? Very carefully! As you might just find yourself with egg on your face! In all seriousness, I don't think there are any pat answers. an-swers. But I think if we as parents answer our children ' s questions with honesty and candor, we will be one step ahead of Mr. Hussein. Janica Kynaston War & kids Editor: The conversations around our kitchen table used to center around such things as school, homework and whose turn it was to do the dishes. Now, thanks to Saddam Hussein, we talk of hydrogen bombs, war prisoners and Scuds. My son has taken to building up his mashed potatoes and swooping his fork through the air, dropping his brussels sprouts smack-dab in the middle, thereby symbolically bombing bomb-ing Hussein's chemical plants. My teen-ager whines, "He's doing do-ing it again, Mom!" You see, the war has not yet affected her, as she is still able to use the phone and watch T.V. But what worries me is the look on my 9-year-old daughter's face as we discuss the war. Her brown eyes grow big with fright and her brows knit together with concern. Her appetite is waning, wan-ing, and I find myself wondering how this war will affect our children. Being a somewhat modern mother, I decided to lay it on the line and tell it like it is. So when the threat of war came, I assured my daughter that our founding fathers wrote the Constitution in a way that our nation could remain united to build a society that would be. governed by law and not the whims of a few powerful men. And that in order to declare war, the President would have to consult with Congress. Con-gress. So what does President Bush do? While congress is still in session, ses-sion, he begins sending troops to Saudi Arabia, therefore, making a HmmM& WILL TK15 TV SHOW BE CVER?" |