Daughter, 6, sent to principal’s office over Holocaust drawing

It’s an email no parent wants to get from their child’s teacher.

But Sarah Gundle had been summoned to the principal’s office at her then six-year-old daughter’s school.

The now 52-year-old clinical psychologist, from New York, had received an email with the request from little Yael’s first grade teacher and it filled her with dread.

But when the purpose of her visit finally revealed itself, Sarah told DailyMail.com she ‘felt outraged.’

The principal began with ‘we have a problem’ and went on to tell the mother that Yael drew a ‘picture of dead people,’ she wrote for Today.

‘After telling me sternly that my daughter had drawn a “highly inappropriate” picture of dead people, she showed it to me – it was of people lying down, black tears streaming from their faces,’ Sarah told DailyMail.com of the incident that happened 10 years ago.

‘Her mouth pursed, still holding the offensive drawing by its corner, I felt compelled to explain that Yom HaShoah (the principal’s visit fell on Holocaust Remembrance Day) is an important day for my family as I come from a family of Holocaust survivors.

‘Aware of my mounting anxiety as she told me that the Holocaust is not an acceptable topic for a six-year-old to know about, she did not seem remotely open to hearing my perspective.’

Reflecting on her feelings about the incident, Sarah told DailyMail.com that she was ‘outraged’ when she realized the principal didn’t think her young daughter should know about the Holocaust.

‘All around the world we see tragedies playing out in epic proportions,’ she said.

‘I learned from my Holocaust survivor grandfather that being silent in the face of any tragedy should not be an option.

‘So, when the principal implied that Holocaust education is inappropriate, I felt outraged.’

While she agreed that children should be ‘shielded’ from some things, Sarah, who has two daughters – now aged seven and 16, said that they were capable of complex emotions.

‘The Holocaust was an example of humanity at its worst. How do you sanitize that? And should we? When I told my girls about it, I held their hands and, even though I told them they were safe, it scared them a bit. How could it not?’ she added.

‘I firmly believe that children are capable of complex feelings, they just don’t have the language to express it yet. And who better to help them understand and process their big feelings around it than their parents and educators?

‘Children need to be shielded, but how is their generation not going to repeat our mistakes if they don’t know about it?’

Sarah also offered parents advice about how to navigate difficult topics, like the Holocaust, with their children.

‘The way that I have approached talking about the Holocaust — as well as other hard things — is to treat it like an architecture we build on over time, adding more information as it becomes easier for them to metabolize,’ she said.

‘When we wait to teach it until children are fully able to comprehend its scale, it is difficult to avoid falling into the pitfall of it being an overly distant sterilized relic of history.

‘The other important piece is that I treat these conversations as opportunities to talk about why people yearn to live, how important it is to love one another, and how vital it is to be grateful for life.’