“I can’t believe the news today. Oh, I can’t close my eyes and make it go away!”
“I can’t believe the news today. Oh, I can’t close my eyes and make it go away!” -U2
I can’t remember the last time I turned on the news, listened to the radio or even checked social media without feeling a little hopeless about the state of the world.
The tragedies of this week, this month, this year, this decade really have me wondering what our children think about the events of the world. Most important, I think, are the things that children see and hear but do not really understand. The gap between experiencing an adult event and understanding it at a child’s level is where fear grows.
Most of us try to shield young children from upsetting news programs but many times kids know far more than we think they do about what is happening in the world.
When my children were young I was often frustrated in my efforts to shield them from frightening news. And, sometimes, I just screwed up. When the second plane crashed into the World Trade Center, my young children and I were sitting there watching it unfold on television. I didn’t understand the horror of what was happening yet, and I didn’t know enough to pull them away in time.
You can’t always control what children see or hear so it is important to design a plan for talking about the news and helping kids understand.
Here are helpful tips from PBS about discussing current events with kids:
Find out what children know about the news - Just ask them: “What have you heard?”
Listen to what children tell you.
Clarify by asking follow up questions: “What do you think about that?”, “Do you have any questions?”
Shield children under age eight from disturbing news.
Avoid repeated TV viewings of the same news event.
Monitor older children’s exposure to the news in your classroom.
Develop an ongoing dialogue with children about what’s happening in the world.
Reassure: Children need some hope for a resolution. Tell them there is bad in the world but also make sure they know that there is equal or greater good. Help them find the good.
Sometimes allaying fears is as simple as helping them redefine their perspective. Watch this father do just that in a video from Le Petit Journal.
Here are some other resources to help you talk to your kids about the news:
