How do you explain all the hate that goes on around the world to kids? My 8-year-old niece recently asked me a series of questions related to war, death, and other topics. Honestly, I did my best to explain lightly. Should I have been more truthful and frank about how different parts of the world work?

That's a tough question. I think it will be nice to tell the kids that the bad guys do all of those killings, bombings, kidnappings, etc. But, us, we belong to th good side and good guys don't promote violence. Tell them also that doing bad things have serious consequences like imprisonment and even death. So, in order to stay alive and happy, we should continue to be on the good side.