Explaining School Shooting to Kids: Limit Exposure to Social Media

By Gilbert Falso :: 11:18 PM

As the nation watches the reports on recent school shooting in the Connecticut suburb of Newtown, many people may find themselves feeling anxious, worried, or saddened. While adults may know how to express these feelings, often they do not know how to talk with children about the way the children are feeling. Adults also may not be as adept at handling questions regarding information children see on social media.

Doctor David Schonfeld, director of the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital  provides the following tips to help adults talk with children about the shooting, and what they read or see on the web and social media:

Minimize your child’s exposure to media (television, radio, print, internet, social media) and if they do watch, consider recording, screening and watching with them. Remember children often overhear or see what you are watching on TV or listening to on the radio and may be exposed directly as the news evolves through the Internet or social media. While children may seek and benefit from basic information about what happened so that they can understand what is happening in their world, they (and adults) don’t benefit from graphic details or exposure to disturbing images or sounds. In the aftermath of a crisis is a good time to disconnect from all media and sit down together and talk as a family.