It's hard to keep disturbing news away from your child. With environmental dangers like hurricanes and earthquakes, human dangers like terrorism and the news media faithfully following the old adage "If it bleeds it leads" there's bad news everywhere.
While some children tend to react anxiously to disturbing news, others keep it in. They don't seem to react but fixate on problems that appear to affect themselves or their family. Some are predisposed to anxiety. If one of their parents is an obsessive worrier, then it's possible for them to inherit this trait. Other children rarely worry at all, but may react strongly to the unfamiliar.
As a parent, you can do a great deal to lessen your child's fears and help them learn how to cope with life. The first step is to remain calm yourself. It's important to remember that the world is hardly ever as dangerous as it's made out to be. There are a lot of people, from politicians to news reporters, who make a living selling the "dangerous environment".
It is essential is to create a calm home environment where problems are solved without recourse to shouting matches or smoldering resentment. Another aspect of creating a calm environment is to realize that children often don't know what certain words mean. Little Judy may not know what a hurricane is, but she does know if her parents react to the word with fear.
My friend's grandpa used to say: "If you're worried and upset, stop reading the newspapers." His blanket declaration may not always be practical, but it is a good advice. There's no reason to completely shield your child from the news and there's no reason to constantly subject them to it either. Limiting exposure to bad news won't hurt a child as long as it doesn't drift too far in the direction of mind control and away from simply maintaining a calm environment.
It's also a good idea to calmly discuss disturbing information with your child and, if the problem is something that can be prepared for, show your child the preparations that are being made.
The most important thing is to show confidence. If you are calmly and confidently preparing for a possible event, then your child will feel safe and confident as well. It's also important to give the child some way to help. A child is far less likely to worry if he or she has participated in preparing in a meaningful way.
And don't try to talk your child out of his or her fear. Fear is a natural survival emotion and is as normal for human beings as breathing. You can suppress a fear by saying, "don't be afraid" but you can't get rid of it. The best way to reduce your child's fear is to make them part of a family team that works together, plays together and prepares together.
Author: Dr. Tali Shenfield
Image Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/40645538@N00/3372060864
