How parents can talk to their children about violent attacks

Photographer: Caleb Woods

Photographer: Caleb Woods

“Parents dealing with how to talk to their children about violent incidents like the attack Monday night in Manchester, England, after Ariana Grande’s concert first need to reassure them that they are safe, psychologists suggest,” wrote CBC News on May 23, 2017.

CBC News continued, “The first question children usually ask during violent world events is whether they’re in danger, said Dr. Sandra Mendlowitz, a psychologist at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.

“You need to tell the truth,” Mendlowitz said in a CBC News Facebook Live. “You need to tell it in a way that’s developmentally appropriate.”

We live with uncertainty every day and Monday’s event is unusual, Mendlowitz said. 

“If it happened all the time, people wouldn’t be on Twitter so much.” 

The instantaneous nature of social media and the fact that we live in a complicated world are part of what’s changed, Mendlowitz said. 

“We cannot live our lives in fear,” she stressed. 

Rather, Mendlowitz suggested turning the event into something positive, such as :

  • Writing letters of support to affected families.
  • Collecting donations.
  • Talking about what to do if you can’t reach each other by cellphone. “

Read the full article here.  

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