How to Talk to a Child About the News

Children can access information with their fingertips. Long gone are the days when information was available only from the evening news or the morning paper. When children's rooms are equipped with personal computers, they can find out anything at any time. So parents need a strategy for talking to their children about what's in the news.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

1. Ask about the latest crisis. A good first approach to opening a dialogue with your child is to discover exactly what he knows. Simply ask him what he's heard about a particular news item so that you have a starting point.
2. Initiate the conversation by asking a question. Once you have a handle on what she has heard and her opinions, thoughts or fears about what happened, you can guide the discussion further by asking her an open-ended question. Ask your child why she thinks something occurred or how she might try to fix it if possible.
3. Give the most honest, forthright but brief explanation you can. In these instances when you're talking to your child about what he has seen, read or heard on the news, the best approach is honesty but in a way that he can understand. Avoid offering more information than is necessary to give him a good understanding of the situation or answering questions he hasn't yet asked.
4. Provide time for feedback. Make sure when you bring up the subject that you're allowing adequate time for a two-way conversation. Just as you have ascertained what she knows and offered your best explanation, let her ask her own questions or express her feelings.
5. Avoid exaggeration. While you're being as honest and brief as you can, don't make more out of the situation than it warrants. This includes making your child feel as safe as possible by putting the situation into terms he can understand and relating it to his everyday life.
6. Make sure you take your child's age into consideration. Obviously, you'll talk to your teenage child differently than you would have when she was five. And if you have children in the home that range in age, don't offer the same type of explanation to your younger children as you do to your older children. Make time to talk to them separately so that they hear what's age appropriate.
7. Reassure your child with empowerment. Often when disaster strikes, there are ways for individuals to help. Talk to your child about donating money to the American Red Cross or a memorial fund, or organizing a food or clothing drive. By letting him help, you're putting some control back into your child's hands.

Tips & Warnings

• It helps if you talk about current events daily. At dinnertime, make a point to talk about the issues of the day so that what happens in around the globe becomes real to them and less scary.