Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Big Little Liesis, as its title suggests, a moral sinkhole.
I dont know why it would ask me to, but the point is, I would.
Thats right, and how many showers does that add up to?
), Amabella passes out in a closet, shoes akimbo.
Her class is evidently talking about climate change and shes gotten the message that were doomed.
Good for you, Renata spits back.
You deconstructed my little girl right into a coma.
Before she leaves, she adds, quite poetically, I will be rich again.
I will rise up.
I will buy a fucking polar bear for every kid in this school.
They practically kill my daughter, then hes just dismissing me like that?
What a pussfuck.)
Our kids are afraid.
Theyre afraid to go to school; theyre afraid theyre gonna get shot.
We dont prepare them, she weeps.
We fill their heads full of happy endings and happy stories and lies.
We have to tell the children that life is an illusion and things dont work out sometimes.
You cant tell them part of the truth.
You have to tell the whole truth.
As a person with zero children, I needed to know: Whos right?
Is it Madeline and the Establishment, or Laura Dern and her extremely, perfectly long neck?
Should we lie to kids and say everything will be fine, or is that irresponsible?
Is there an acceptable way to let them know the world is slowly melting?
And if the child is named Amabella, does that change anything?
No teacher would do that, said Dubinsky.
Thats too much for that age.
And the idea of repetition?
Its like a religious service, said Dubinsky.
Its not good to lie to kids, ever.
But you dont have to inundate them with gruesome facts either.
Because really, what are they going to do with it, other than feel anxiety and have nightmares?
Its about thinking about the kids cognitive level.
What can kids really understand at this age, and what are they emotionally ready to hear?
Dubinsky added that it was particularly bad form not to inform the parents about the potentially anxiety-inducing curriculum.
If youre going to talk about anything controversial, its always good to let parents know ahead of time.
We appreciate any feedback.
Theres no harm in underdoing it, she added.
I wouldnt go into the whole catastrophe of climate change, she said.
I would probably go into it as how the students could help with global warming.
You dont need to talk about the polar ice caps melting.
I would never recite statistics.
1, it freaks them out, and No.
2, theyre probably not listening.
I asked the schoolteacher if shed ever dealt with Renata-esque helicopter parents.
Id get horrendous, very hateful emails.
I got them whenever I did anything slightly off, she said.
And I told them, Were talking millions of years.
You will not be around.
I will not be around.
Nobody will be around that you know.
This is way in the future.
Its not something for you to worry about.
Well, I got emails on that.
Emails like, My child was very upset, couldnt sleep at night, was worried about the sun.
I would always email, Thank you for your input.
I appreciate what you had to tell me.
I hope so-and-so is doing better.
I hope to see him tomorrow in school.
The schoolteacher also received emails with unwarranted advice about her personal life.
I asked if she ever changed her curriculum or her aura based on those emails.
Oh, no, she said.
No, absolutely not.
Its not a very calming world they live in, said the schoolteacher.
Theyre anxious about a lot of things they have no control over.
They get exposed to too much media, I think.
And that makes them worried.
Just watching the news is bad.
They should never be watching the news.
Older kids will ask, Is there even gonna be enough food?
Is there going to be a scorched earth by the time Im 25?
My gut feeling is that theres a lot more anxiety these days.
Part of it, too, is that kids are overbooked.
Theyre busy four afternoons a week after school.
The parents are very keen on the kids achieving, and that I think can cause anxiety.
Anxious parents will produce anxious kids.
But both also caution against lying (of any size) to kids to assuage that anxiety.
You shouldnt lie, but you also dont need to tell them every single detail.
Ive never heard of anything like that.
Dressing up is totally inappropriate, and most kids would find it weird, she said.
