What Do We Tell Our Children?

A woman waits to hear about her sister, a teacher, following a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., about 60 miles (96 kilometers) northeast of New York City, this morning. An official with knowledge of Friday’s shooting said 27 people were dead, including 18 children. It was the worst school shooting in the country’s history. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

A Facebook Friend posts: ” This is one day I’m going to shield my kids from the news. They’ll read about the school shootings soon enough, but just for today I’d like them to not be faced with such horrors.”

Question: How do you explain something like this to your children? Or do you try to protect them from today’s dreadful news?