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How Do You Talk to a Child About an Assassination?

My 4th grader came home asking about "the news." I wasn't sure what to say.

Patrick Klepek's avatar
Patrick Klepek
Sep 15, 2025
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black rifle on brown sand
Photo by Maxim Potkin ❄ on Unsplash

Apologies for turning my parenting and gaming newsletter into a soapbox, but…

Last week, we were driving home from a PTA meeting. The entire family was in the car. My wife turned to me and said our oldest had a question to ask, but she wanted to wait until we’d left the school. I was, admittedly, taken aback by what she asked next.

In school that week, a kid asked about “the news.” My daughter’s 4th grade teacher immediately figured out what was going to happen and shut down any discussion.

I was now faced with trying to explain assassination to my kid. How do you do that?

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