Exploding Buildings

Poor Jake was absolutely terrified the other night.

He and Poppy like to watch Springsteen's "Atlantic City" video and there is a part where they show some of the old buildings being torn down. So Alex decided to find a clip of one of the hotels in Vegas being blown up, thinking Jake might enjoy it, as it's a total show--fireworks, music, a countdown, etc.

Jake was completely freaked out! He started sobbing. Finally, Alex brought him in and we figured out that Jake was afraid there were people still in the building who got hurt and that he was afraid it could happen to our house. We talked about it and explained how buildings are imploded, and that no one is ever, ever inside, and that could NEVER happen to our house. Finally he calmed down.

The next night, as soon as he walked through the door, Jake was asking to watch the "building blow up video" again. Poppy took him up to watch it and they talked about it. Turns out, Jake was fine so long as he knew that "Bruce" wasn't inside. Apparently, he made a connection between the Springsteen video and the implosion and was concerned that his hero Bruce Springsteen might have been hurt.

He then came downstairs and told me all about it. He asked again if our house could blow up and I said no. When I asked him why, he thought a minute and then replied, "It's made of metal!" We also talked about how our house was small and low to the ground, not high like a hotel. I asked if he thought anything else might blow up and he said, "Not Daddy's house. Not my school. They're too little." Yes! So he feels safe now, and I think he's proud that he watched the video again and didn't let it scare him.