FEATURE
Talking About Tragedy
I
n an ideal world, parents would be able to shield their children from all the negative news that constantly bombards them. But our world is far from ideal. Shielding
our children is challenging because not only does news travels faster than ever, but the line between truth, satire, and fake news is so blurred. Childhood should be a carefree time but it can also be riddled with stress, especially when kids are constantly exposed to news of crime, violence, and tragedy. Stress is the body’s reaction to situations that occur within and outside the body. Stress can be helpful and has been hard-wired into our human physiology for survival. The body’s stress “fight-orflight” response is beneficial to help you survive a potentially life-threatening encounter by pumping adrenaline and cortisol into your bloodstream to help you fight harder. However, stress can go
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from being helpful and life-saving to harmful and life-damaging. We know that childhood is an especially sensitive period of development for their brains and bodies. Children are particularly sensitive to repeated stress activation which is why exposure to distressing news can be traumatic and hurt their overall well-being. These tips will help prepare you to have hard and honest conversations with your children.
Process
This is the most important step of this process and it requires that you, as the adult, set the tone. Heavy news triggers emotions that need to be processed. You have to take note of your feelings before diving into heavy conversations with your kids. Why? Because children are extremely sensitive and attuned beings. They will pay attention to your tone, pace of speech, and body language for guidance. Their sense of safety comes from you. They are going to
