How To Talk To Your Kids About The Texas School Shooting
Today is a tough day. Again. Another mass shooting. Another school shooting. My heart is so heavy today and it’s incredibly hard to be on the air. Yet, we are all expected to get up and go to work as usual. I get it, we all have bills to pay and businesses have to keep moving forward. But especially today, I think about all the children who are getting up and going to school. I’m sure many of them have heard about the news, or some version of it that they overheard. I’m sure kids are scared, and some will be walking into their schools today with increased police presence. It’s terrifying. If we as adults are having trouble processing our feelings about it, imagine how kids must be feeling.
I don’t have any of the answers about the perfect way to talk to your kids, but I wanted to provide some resources that I found that may help you. You know your kids best, and know that what works for one child may not work for another, so you can take what you feel might be helpful.
- From a report by WCVB – Boston youth mental health experts say it’s crucial to address Texas school shooting with children.
“They really need to hear from parents that they are safe and there’s lots of ways to tell that to kids,” said Dr. Erica Lee, a psychologist at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Lee said as children are processing the tragedy, parents should use their words to establish a sense of safety.
“Letting them know that you’re doing everything that you can to protect them; that you would never send them to school if you thought they were going to be unsafe, the school has a good safety plan,” Lee said.
Dr. Khadijah Booth-Watkins, a psychiatrist and associate director of the Clay Center for Youth Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital, said it is vital for parents to manage their emotions before approaching their children because physical soothing is as important as words.
“They feed off of us. They cue off of us and so if we’re not in control, we are going to be unable to help them manage their anxieties and help them gain a sense of calm and safety,” Booth-Watkins said.
Booth-Watkins said it is very unfortunate that this conversation is coming up again, but noted that it is important not to become desensitized and complacent about school shootings.
“Maybe remind them of in the grand scheme of things, although it seems like we’re talking about this all the time, this is not happening all the time and in most places,” she said. “So really kind of help them put it into context.”
- From a report from ABC News.
Dr. Robin Gurwitch, a member of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, broke down how parents can discuss the news with their children.
Gurwitch stressed that in situations like a mass tragedy, it is “extremely important” for parents and caregivers — especially those with children in high school — to “be willing to bring this topic up.”
“We really want to want to wrap our arms around them and make them feel safe,” she added. “But part of being a parent is willingness to discuss difficult topics.”
“To believe that our children don’t know that these events occur is wishful thinking,” Gurwitch said. “We live in an age where we can go online and see live feed of people leaving the school, of responders, it’s updated every few moments.”
Gurwitch suggests that if you are watching the news with your children, turn it off and talk about the events calmly in order to get an idea of what they know, where they are coming from, and what misconceptions they may have already heard.
These are just a few things to help you get started, and I wish you and your children the best in processing this. Be sure to take care of you too. Sending you love.
