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SALT LAKE CITY — News and images from Monday's explosions at the Boston Marathon are prevalent online and on TV. They can be hard for children to deal with and understand.
Therapists recommend parents not pretend like nothing bad happened, but be sensitive in talking to their children about it.
Julie Hanks, a licensed family therapist, and Dr. Doug Goldsmith, psychologist and executive director of the Children's Center, spoke separately about how parents can help their kids.
Hanks offered the following advice:
- Don't: Leave the TV or radio news on while the child is home.
- Do: Minimize child's exposure to the traumatic situation.
- Don't: Pretend that nothing traumatic has happened.
- Do: Ask your child what they know about the event and clarify any misconceptions.
- Don't: Give graphic details about the traumatic event.
- Do: Give simple explanations based on your child's developmental level.
- Don't: Minimize your child's emotional responses to the tragedy.
- Do: Acknowledge your child's emotions and provide comfort.
- Don't: Promise that nothing bad will ever happen to them.
- Do: Acknowledge that bad things happen but focus on the rarity of this kind of event.
- Don't: Hyper focus on the tragic event.
- Do: Keep your child's routine as normal as possible.
"For very young children, parents should really not be talking with them about this. And, we don't want them exposed to these images," said Dr. Goldsmith. "Even for older children, they see the images and anxious kids can start to create a lot of stories that are not real about what they've seen."
Goldsmith suggested parents "check in" with their kids on that.
" ‘Do you have questions about what you saw?' ‘Are you disturbed by it?' Get information from the child before you start to tell too much," he recommended.
He also said some children may not dwell on the event.
"The truth is, the kids find it's not that interesting and they move on pretty quickly. They're not interested in staying focused on it because it didn't affect their lives immediately. But there are still a lot of rumors at the school, so parents should check in on that," he said.
Goldsmith said parents can continue to reassure children that adults are doing everything they can for future safety.
