Why I took my kids to the site of a tornado's destruction

On Friday, Arkansas suffered another round of tornadoes. Seven people, including three children, died.

Hubs, as usual, was out in the midst of it. Shortly after the storms, he found a family who had lost their house. They already were struggling -- the dad lost his job when the Feb. 5 tornadoes destroyed a boat factory, where he was a welder. His best friend died in that one.

This family, like many others in that part of the state, had taken a double whammy.

Hubs told me about the family. "It's a story," he assured me. I absolutely agreed.

So on Sunday, we loaded our kids into the car and headed up to that part of the state.

"Are we bad parents for taking them along?" I asked Hubs. "You know how Tootie has fixated on tornadoes this spring."

"I think they'll be OK," he said. But his tone indicated his own uncertainty.

We drove down a long rutted driveway, up to a pile of splintered rubble.

The family told me all about how the two tornadoes had taken everything they'd worked so hard for. The most harrowing part of their story, however, was the mother's description of how she nearly lost her 17-month-old girl. The second tornado very nearly sucked the toddler from her arms. This woman had already suffered two miscarriages -- one of the lost babies was her little girl's twin.

As the pair tumbled through the air, debris battered the mother. When I interviewed her, she had two black eyes. Bruises and scratches covered her arms and legs. She told me how she would be damned before she let anything take her baby.

My daughter heard much of this interview. And now she's old enough to understand such
things.

As the mother and I talked, Hubs shot photos while the E-man toddled along after him.

"Where's the house?" my boy kept asking, unable to accept that the wreckage in front of him could possibly be the remains of someone's home.

"That WAS the house," his sister said. "The tornado got it."

"Oh," the E-man said, clearly unconvinced.





That baby you see in her daddy's arms had only two scrapes on her. Clearly, she was buffered by a mommy's love.

My daughter saw that, heard how this mother had saved her baby. And while Tootie remains scared of tornadoes, she was reassured to meet people who had lived through one.

I monitor my kids' television-watching closely. They watch Noggin or their DVDs, and that's about it.

But this -- this was real. Bad things happen. But good people step in to help. I wanted so much for her to understand this.

And today. Was. Wonderful.

I took phone calls and emails all morning from readers who wanted to help this family. When people respond that way to your story -- well, yes, it was worth it.

The family is getting donations. And my children, I hope, realized that one day they might be in a position to do the same for someone in need. I want to nurture empathy in them. I want them to understand that while we can't give them everything their friends have, they already have way more than others.

Was it wrong to take our kids to the site? Maybe some parents would think so. But I am so glad we did it. They saw the devastation, yes. But they also witnessed a family's strength. They realized that it is our obligation to help in whatever way we can.