So my 3rd-grade son asked me if there are any crazy people with guns near us.

[SunSeeker]

63. What part of what I said is not the truth?

I posted that OP hoping for suggestions on how to reassure my kid. I really did not expect a snarky attack accusing me of lying for not telling my kid a man might blow his head off with an AR-15 the next day at school. But that's DU these days I guess.

My kid understands what mental illness is and what people are capable of. We've had that conversation. And the one about stranger abductions and inappropriate touching, sadly.

I told him he is safe at his school just like you would tell your kid that the vaccine he is about to get is safe (even though you know there is a tiny possibility he might have a reaction). I can't believe you would have told a spooked little kid at bedtime that some man could blow his head off the next day at school. Yikes. All that would have done is keep him up all night. You can be truthful without going overboard with too much information.

I know our neighbors. None of them would blow a kid away. Telling him that nobody here would do such a thing is not "dishonest" or a "lie." We don't even have a neighborhood crank that everyone avoids. In our case, what I said was true. Now for kids on the south side of Chicago, for example, that would be a lie. Some of our kids are not so "very lucky" in this "western country."