With the entire scare from the terrorist attacks around the world, parents may now mostly feel insecure of their children's safety. You may be going through great lenghts to secure your children's physical welfare, but according to experts, you should also be aware of what these attacks can do to your kids' psychological and emotional well-being.
According to Harold Koplewicz, President of Child Mind Institute, you should help children become aware of what is happening around them. Parents should not delay telling their children about the significant events because it is very likely for the children to hear about what have happened through other sources. It is better that the parents will be the one to break the news to their children as they will be able to answer any questions that will arise, convey sure facts and set the emotional tone.
Talking with them about such concerns will help them build healthy coping skills that will definitely help them in the future. Parents are encouraged to let their children express their feelings about current issues.
Children are more likely to pick up parents' feelings so parents must try to stay calm as they talk through the events.
Koplewicz provided a short guide to keep the parent-children conversations as appropriate as they should be.
For Pre-school kids - This is the only group of children which experts advised parents to avoid opening the subject up with. Kids younger than 5 usually confuse facts with fears. So parents must limit their children's exposure to news and following social media.
For elementary school aged kids - For kids this age, knowledge is empowering and helps relieve anxiety so adults must just provide them the answers to their questions and direct the depth of awareness. Let the children know they are safe and secured because kids at this age are egocentric and may think that any bad event that happens anywhere is heading their way.
For middle school aged kids - Answer their questions simply with honesty. Reassure them that adults are working hard for their safety. Kids at these age associate things to either "good guys" or "bad guys". You may encourage this group of kids to express their fears to know how they are reacting to such alarming events.
For high school kids - This group is most probably exposed to social media and have been hearing the events from their friends. However, it is still worth explaining to these children current happenings in deeper details. Make sure you don't make this group uncomfortable during your conversation with them. You can orient them what they can do during such events and where they should go or who they should call in times of these kinds of tragedies.
