9/11 Children Experience Joy, Fear After Hearing About Bin Laden's Death
NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- About 3,000 children lost a parent in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the death of Osama bin Laden is stirring up mixed emotions.
Terry Sears, executive director of Tuesday's Children – an organization formed to help children deal with their loss, said the death of bin Laden could be good for the children.
1010 WINS' Mona Rivera reports: The Emotional Effect Of Bin Laden's Death
Podcast
"Our hope at Tuesday's Children is this helps 9/11 family members move on positively with their lives," Sears said.
PHOTOS: New Yorkers Celebrate Death Of Osama Bin Laden
However, while the news is positive, Sears said it is putting a face on the perpetrator causing anxiety in some children.
"It's sort of making it all very much more real for the kids," Sears said.
Social worker Fran Furman, a counselor at Tuesday's Children, said some children may be experiencing fear following news of the death since in video games the bad guys get killed and then "pop right back up."
Debby Carson, of Massapequa Park, who was pregnant when her husband died on 9/11, was happy to tell her 9-year-old son, James, that bin Laden was dead.
"His arms went up in the air and he went, 'Yay!' like we were at a football game,"Carson said. "We got him. We win."
The sentiment was shared across much of New York City Monday as crowds flocked to Times Square and Ground Zero expressing joy and relief at the death of bin Laden.
A candlelight vigil will be held in Eisenhower Park Monday night to honor the hundreds of Nassau County residents killed on Sept. 11, 2001.
Related: New York City Steps Up Security After Osama Bin Laden's Death
