You know those parenting moments when you think "This is harder than I thought it was going to be." ?

I had one of those difficult parenting moments yesterday.  Zoe, my 13 year old daughter, came home from middle school and told me they had a moment of silence in remembrance of those who died on September 11th, 2001. 

Then she asked me for an explanation. 

Explain it?  Explain it?  How the hell do I do that?

I settled for telling her the facts.   As she asked me questions, I looked things up as I needed to.  We found the definition of 'terrorist' and 'terrorism'.    I had to tell her that it wasn't the pilots who flew the planes into the buildings, it was the crazy people who took over the plane.  I had to tell her that the pilots were killed.  I told her about United flight 93.  We looked at pictures of the Pentagon and read about what happens there.

Youtube had many recordings of the news coverage.  We spent about 20 minutes watching videos from the Today Show, starting with the light stuff they were featuring that Tuesday morning.  A woman promoting her new television show.  An interview with a man who wrote a book about Howard Hughes. 

I'm very happy that Zoe didn't ask me 'Why?' because I just wouldn't have any answer other than "Because they were crazy.".

She told me that her science teacher told them about being at a daycare in the New York City area.  The teacher said there were children that wouldn't be picked up by their parents, as both parents worked in the World Trade Center. 

It was one of those conversations I didn't enjoy having with her.  I'd have much preferred she learned all this stuff in school at some point. 

But, she asked me.  And I told her. 

Amanda's beauty tip of the day:  You don't have to wash your hair every day.  If you only need to shampoo a couple of times a week, go for it.