How To Explain This World To Your Kids

You must do your part EVERYDAY!!

TEACH THEM TO BE KIND AND DO NOT SPREAD HATE ... EVERYDAY

When tragedy hits, like it has the past couple days, its easy to have emotional, knee jerking reactions. Problems aren't solved overnight with a quick message. Problems are solved by creating good habits and a life style that promotes the goal.

How do you explain some of the events of the past few days to a 6 year old??

The number 1 thing you do is teach them to be kind to everyone. You must absolutely NOT spread hate!!

My Child is a white male with every advantage you could ask for, I don't know what its like to live in the world as a minority, and I don't claim to know how it feels to grow up that way. What I do know is that to change the disgusting path the world is on right now, we must spread the right message to the next generation!

I believe in letting them be informed and educated on the world we live in and not shielding them from our truth. Change will never occur that way.

I like to share with my son the message that Fred Rogers shared with the world.

"When you see scary things, look for the people that are helpers" I tell him, "there are bad people that do bad things, but YOU must always be a helper!"

That being said, how do you make sure they are informed and educated??

Here are some techniques for discussion:

• Be truthful – Children need to understand what is happening around them to feel secure. Provide them with facts about what happened and acknowledge it was a terrible and frightening event. Help them to see that we share their feelings.

• Encourage any questions – Ensure your child feels as though they can approach you to ask questions as much as they need. Sometimes a child will process a tragic event much later and come back to you again for more discussion. Remind them that questions are welcome.

• Feelings are normal – Some children may take a while to get over tragic events and that is perfectly normal. Allow them to cry if they need to and show their emotions. Share your feelings about what happened with them. Help your kids to verbalize their feelings with you. Secure them with a warm cuddle and remind them that they are safe. Keep things in perspective and remind them that not all people are harmful towards others.

When talking about tragedy to kids, your choice of words really depends on the age of the children. In any case though you should:

• Ensure they feel safe – explain to them that it is a real misfortune what has happened and that we all feel for those people who were there or are experiencing pain.

• Stay close by and show affection as they desire – give them a hug and reassure them that their world is safe. Keep them among familiar things until they’re feeling more secure, for example family and friends.

• Allow the children to talk about it and how it has made them feel. Honestly answer their questions and try to put their minds at ease. By not talking about it may make them think it is taboo.

• Be watchful for behavioral changes – kids who are behaving differently, such as not sleeping at night, feel frightened, don’t want mum to go to work, they want to start sleeping in with you may need some more reassurance, time and talking. If it continues it might be time to seek professional help.

• For teens – talk with them, listen and ask questions. Stabilise the subject by asking “What are your friends saying about it? How are you feeling?” Make sure they’re receiving the true facts. Tell them you’re there for them.

Please share if you have any other ways to talk to your kids about this world that you have found successful!