The Shocking and Tragic Murder of Leibby Kletzky: How Does a Parent Respond?

I, like everyone else who learned about the tragic and horrific murder of “angelic” boy Leibby Kletzky am in complete shock.  I have been sitting here for the last hour reading the news on different sites  – trying to gather as much information as possible about this horrible incident, looking for answers and trying to understand how in the world this happened.

A man by the name of Levi Aron is implicated in the murder.  He is a 35 year-old man who led police to the young boy’s remains (body parts in a garbage bag put into a red suitcase and left near a dumpster.)

I hate this man.  What brings a person to take and brutally massacre an innocent soul.  This man has taken a beautiful son away from his parents, his siblings, his grandparents, his friends, THIS WORLD!  How could he?!

How do we react as parents?  What do we do?  What do we say to our children?  How can we protect them and make sure this does not happen to any child ever again?

Our natural response as parents is to protect our children and perhaps want to never let them out of our site.  But is that realistic?  How do we balance protecting our children with letting them go and teaching them independence?

We all want both for our children.

Below are two links that I found so far that give parents advice on how to speak to kids of all ages about a tragedy like this, and suggestions on how protective (or not) to be with our children.

I would love to hear your thoughts.  Please share your comments below.

  • A Jewish Response: Brooklyn, NY – Explaining the Inexplicable: Rabbi Horowitz, Chai Life Line How To Speak To Your Child (Audio Replay)

You can find the audio replay by clicking on this link –  http://www.vosizneias.com/87360/2011/07/13/brooklyn-ny-explaining-the-inexplicable-to-your-children

  • From the Wall Street Journal:

“After Leiby Kletzky Murder, Urging Parents to Keep Calm”

“Hara Estroff Marano, editor-at-large at Psychology Today and author of “ A Nation of Wimps: The High Cost of Invasive Parenting“, allows that such reactions are natural, but says parents cannot let anxiety take the lead in child-rearing. She spoke with Metropolis Wednesday afternoon. An edited version of the interview follows.”

Click on the following link to read the rest of the article:

http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2011/07/13/after-leibby-kletzky-murder-what-parents-should-do/

  • Excellent video with advice, suggestions, and tools on how to speak to our children given by Dr. Norman Blumenthal can be found by clicking on this link:

VIDEO FROM CHAI LIFELINE: Norman Blumenthal, Ph.D. On How To Talk To Your Kids About The Recent Tragedy

May the Kletzy family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

May we NEVER experience another tragedy like this ever again.

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