Additional Information
(4/28/99)
As we watch continuous coverage of the school shooting in Colorado and the atrocities in Kosovo, child psychologists warn that we may need to balance the need to talk to our children about it with shielding them.
Student Jake Duerden says "I think it's really sad, it's like someone taking a piece of your heart and just throwing it away. It's just like so sad to see the parents getting massacred. It's just horrible."
Sixth grade students at Bountiful Elementary spoke to us about the war in Kosovo.
They say they're concerned bombs will begin flying back home.
Holly McOmie says "I'm afraid that Iraq, we're still kind of in with them, and I'm afraid that we won't have enough troops. That if they come over here, that our army won't be here."
But their teacher, Vicki Smith, works with the kids to understand how far away Kosovo and Iraq are.
"I just say no, their bombs can't reach us, you're safe here in Bountiful. But as far as the feelings to this, I mean those feeling run very deep."
Child psychologists say these kids are old enough to put these events in perspective, but younger children are not.
Douglas Goldsmith, executive director of the Children's Center says, "We really have to worry about the children in elementary school who look like they're playing while mom and dad are watching the news, but they are picking up snippets and they are picking up bits and pieces of information."
He says very young children are prone to taking one piece of data and exploding it into a nightmare.
He says all kids need to know that Yugoslavia is far away.
Alex Shahan says, "I was nervous at first because I thought they could come over here and bomb us with all their chemical weapons. But now we have learned that they couldn't, they don't have enough power."
But Littleton, Colorado is not too far away.
Still kids from other schools find comfort in the idea Utah is not a place where a tragedy like the one in Littleton could happen.
Brigham Lundberg is a Taylorsville High Student. He says, "Students don't really think about it. I guess when it gets closer and closer, people are going to start thinking about it more. But for the most part, I think everyone feels pretty safe."
For more information on how to talk to kids about the school shooting in Colorado and the war in Kosovo, call our Family Now information line at 1-800-575-5751.
Experts stress the need of allowing the children to talk about it at school and at home - as much as they need to.
