Good morning.

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Seeing makeshift homes on sidewalks and freeway offramps is not unusual in most parts of California. Tents can now be found on sidewalks where just a block away, two-bedroom homes easily sell for more than $1 million. With the homelessness crisis reaching every corner of the state, many California children are now accustomed to seeing people sleeping on the street.

Several months ago, I wrote about the kinds of questions my own children ask about homelessness and asked readers how you handle the topic with your children. Here are some responses, which have been slightly edited for length and clarity.

My son is 8 1/2, and we live in San Francisco, very close to the Mission District, where there are a lot of homeless people living. There’s a young homeless man who wanders the streets near our house, talking to himself and seeming lost, and we see him almost every day on our walk to school. A couple years ago, my son asked me why homeless people were called “homeless,” when they had tent homes on the sidewalk. We had to have a conversation about how that wasn’t normal, and how people would probably prefer to live inside, especially when it rains and is very cold. It’s very hard to explain to him why it’s not normal but why, so far, we haven’t been able to fix this problem or help people find homes that aren’t on the streets.

— Jennifer Lynch

My daughter helps me put together packs of food and toiletries that I give to people on my bike ride to work, and she really likes doing it. We also keep a bag in the car to give to any people we see who need help. We call them “people who have to sleep outside” because they don’t have money for a house.

— Allison MacQueen