“Welp, Didn’t Expect That” — Parents Floored After Seeing Preschooler’s 9/11 Coloring Pages

At what age should children be taught about the World Trade Center attacks on September 11th, 2001? High school? Middle school? Late elementary?

How about when they're 3 years old?

That's what these two parents encountered after seeing some coloring sheets given to their toddler at their school.

It appeared like the kids' teacher thought it would be a good idea for children who are still watching Peppa Pig to know that two planes were flown into the Twin Towers.

The video, which was shared by @alysonkipp, begins with Dad holding a sheet of paper as Alyson records him walking towards the camera.

"What's the question?" she asks to the camera as he stands in front of her holding the sheet, which he reads off of.

"Do you think our 3-year-old, do you think our 3-year-old at our church-sponsored preschool should be tracing and coloring...the events of 9/11?!"

He turns the paper around to show a coloring book packet that shows a plane flying into the Twin Towers.

Alyson emits a whistling "teapot" high-pitched laugh, and Dad seems to find the kids' coloring sheet absurd as well. He turns it back around and begins to inspect it again.

"What?" she asks, still laughing. He presents it to the camera lens again, smiling — there's a burning building and an image of an airplane flying directly into it.

"That is the last thing I expected," she cackles and he begins bouncing up and down on his feet on camera, trying to speak through his laughter.

"I've just been staring at it in the kitchen," he then sees there's another sheet of paper behind it, which also piques his interest.

"Oh, look guys...never forget," he says, flipping around a second portion of the coloring sheet which shows a 9 followed by two towers, the year 2001, and a picture of the Pentagon.

Alyson immediately howls, "Also it's July 31st!" she says as Dad tosses his head back and begins to walk off camera as the video closes out.

One commenter who replied to the video asked to know what the "reasoning" behind the school's decision to give children coloring sheets commemorating 9/11, which the couple addressed in a follow-up clip.

"We did ask about this, they weren't aware and the best answer that we got was that the summer's theme was dancing through the decades."

And early on in that particular decade were the tragic events of September 11th.

Alyson continued, "So that's what they chose for 2000s. Now they did say that they had a whole like slew of things to choose from the 2000s and that this particular teacher just whoop, landed on that one. I told Chris I said you know at least they could've done like a page that said Facebook," she remarked.

She went on to say that there were other significant events that ended up shaping society that may've been better suited to have kids learn about: "And then they could have colored the letters. Maybe learned age appropriate things I don't know, but, that's the answer we got."

Towards the end of the follow-up video she pans the camera over to Dad, who just raises his eyebrows before the clip wraps up.

One commenter questioned if the 9/11 imagery was indicative of other potential issues in the school: "My more serious concern would be the conversation around the images. Are they teaching children Christian extremist ideas like white supremacy? Absolutely wild."

Others thought that the concept of "dancing through the decades" could've had a more fitting title: "Dancing through the darkness of the decades?" they quipped.

Someone else found other worthy candidates of dark moments in history that could be shared with children: "Imagining coloring sheets of a white bronco and other dancing decade disasters," they wrote.

Another TikTok user thought that the school's explanation for the 9/11 themed worksheets really didn't help to clarify matters any further: "I don’t even know what to say. This makes it more confusing!!??"

What do you think? Is it important for 3-year-olds to know about the terrorist attack on September 11th, 2001?