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The 2004 tsunami happened when I was in 7th grade and my homeroom was making cards for the victims. Some girl wrote, "Wave to us from down under" on her card and we all thought it was the most hilarious thing in the world.
Anyway, there are a lot of adults out there who would laugh at the tsunami or make "edgy" jokes about it.
Yes, and at least one guy has lost his job over that--the press secretary for a prospective presidential candidate. Talk about someone who should have known better!
My middle child is autistic and laughs when she sees people get hurt in movies. She has very little sense of what is socially appropriate or expected, so her reactions are off sometimes. It's disconcerting and even irritating at times, but we know she doesn't mean any harm. I imagine that an eight-year-old might not have fully developed empathy yet. It happens.
And suedonym, I was at a conference with my son's assistant vice principal the day of the tsunami, and she kept pronouncing it "tu-nah-ssi." Assistant vice principal! I wonder if she went into the break room afterward and said, "Hey, you'll never guess how some weird mom pronounces tunassi."
There's a razor-thin line between a laugh and a cry, which explains why some people when they laugh, tears come to their eyes, and some criers will suddenly shift to laughing.
Eastern philosophy has something to say about this worthy of meditation: A laugh and a cry come out of the same energy pool, just like hate and love.
I've never been in a natural catastrophe, and it takes an extraordinary effort for me to even empathasize with those effected by them, and oftentimes I'm crippled by the guilt I feel that I'm not responding appropriately to those effected by floods, tornado's, earthquakes, hurricanes.
Now I know others who have never been in a natural catastrophe, like my sister, who will break down crying looking at the media coverage of these events, which makes me wonder if I'm seriously deficient or emotionally retarded!
Now I'm sure there are those you'll see crying, but for other reasons, perhaps it's a pet-lover, who sees a dead/abandoned cat or dog, and no tears for the humans.
An 8 year old may or may not fully understand the video. Also, there are different levels of understanding. She might realize that a large tsunami caused a lot of damage and hurt a lot of people in the literal sense, but may not understand it emotionally (what it actually feels like for people to lose their houses, or lose their loved ones, or the terror/panic aspect).
My kids, 5 and 9, have both seen footage of the tsunami. They saw pictures of the earthquake in Haiti too. They've watched the 9/11 videos also. They both understand the things they see and they react differently.
I don't see how you could keep a child from seeing the video in the first place. I think it would be important to talk about it and explain what had happened. I, personally, would be concerned about an 8 year old who laughed at it as that is an inappropriate response, maybe if she were 3 years old? You really can't shield children from anything these days so it is best to be ready to explain and reassure. Tell them no lies though because you will lose their trust.
I don't think the mother was wrong for showing her daughter. I showed my similarly aged son. Also, maybe it was nervous laughter. I suffer from that where I get really nervous or upset and instead of crying I laugh.
There's a razor-thin line between a laugh and a cry, which explains why some people when they laugh, tears come to their eyes, and some criers will suddenly shift to laughing.
Eastern philosophy has something to say about this worthy of meditation: A laugh and a cry come out of the same energy pool, just like hate and love.
I've never been in a natural catastrophe, and it takes an extraordinary effort for me to even empathasize with those effected by them, and oftentimes I'm crippled by the guilt I feel that I'm not responding appropriately to those effected by floods, tornado's, earthquakes, hurricanes.
Now I know others who have never been in a natural catastrophe, like my sister, who will break down crying looking at the media coverage of these events, which makes me wonder if I'm seriously deficient or emotionally retarded!
Now I'm sure there are those you'll see crying, but for other reasons, perhaps it's a pet-lover, who sees a dead/abandoned cat or dog, and no tears for the humans.
I would think almost all of us have laughed at something that wasn't funny for that reason.
If you're walking along with someone and they slip and fall, for some reason it can provoke unstoppable laughter.
I think that kind of thing was the basis for slapstick humor where comedians would do a fake fall just for laughs.
With an 8 year old it's hard to say why he or she might laugh at something.
So I guess I'm the only adult who has ever had this urge, huh? When I was about 20, my best friend told me that her sister had been brutally murdered the night before. I can't tell you how hard I fought to resist the urge to laugh hysterically. Not because it was funny. I just had no idea how to respond and had a million thoughts running through my head. What do I do, what do I say, how do I make it better, do I make it better, do I hug her, WTF do I do?
I would imagine a child using laughter as a way to process the scene or not realizing that real people are actually getting hurt. I wouldn't trip too hard on a child laughing at this, as long as someone explained what was going on and why laughter would not be appropriate. But these grown up making crude jokes should know better.
I don't see how you could keep a child from seeing the video in the first place. I think it would be important to talk about it and explain what had happened. I, personally, would be concerned about an 8 year old who laughed at it as that is an inappropriate response, maybe if she were 3 years old?
I have to agree with this statement. My oldest child has had some challenges, and one sign of her problems was inappropriate responses. Part of her intervention has been to help her learn to read social situations. This does not have to be taught to other children since they learn it naturally during their day to day living. By age 8, a child should have enough awareness to do a number of things, including reading the response of the adult watching the video. If the parent is taking the video seriously, a child should as well. I was watching television coverage when my five year walked in and saw the images of the disaster. She read the situation correctly and her first question was whether there were people in the buildings and cars that were being submerged. Unlike my oldest, I did not have to teach her how to read a situation. She just knew.
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