Las Vegas and a Broken Heart- helping kids learn from tragedy

It's with a heavy heart that we are yet again learning of a serious mass casualty situation, this time out of Las Vegas Nevada. I woke up to my news feeds blowing up about a mass shooting where 50 people had died and over 100 others had been injured. My heart goes out to all of those people who's lives have been changed forever by this cowardly act. I hate that it seems like things like this seem to be taking place so frequently now. It's scary and sad thinking that simply going to a concert is no longer safe.

That being said, I feel the need to take a second and talk about the youngest members of our society that are also seeing all of this. Our kids are seeing all of these reports just as much as we are and to them this can all be very scary and extremely hard to understand. I personally, am not a believer in hiding the bad things in the world from our kids. I think we need to use them as a teaching tool to help our children grow and learn about the world around them. We do need to this carefully though, so when events like this occur I think it's up to us as parents and adults to help them work through it and this is how I do that with my children.

1. Don't hide it. Let them know that something terrible has happened, explain the situation and that they are probably going to see and hear about it over the next several days as the news and adults talk about it. This will kind of prepare them for thing they may possibly hear.

2. Questions are important. Let your children ask you questions and in turn you also need to be asking them questions. This will open a dialogue with your children and allow them to feel comfortable talking to you about uncomfortable situations in the future. Answer the questions they may have honestly with age appropriate information. If you don't know an answer to their question, show them how you can research the information to find out the answer and if there is no answer... tell them. Let them know that some questions just can't be answered.  Make sure that you are asking them important questions as well. Ask them how they are feeling. Ask them if they understand the information given to them. Ask them if they are worried about anything. Just talk to them.

3. Turn it off. Don't make these tragedies be the focus of the day. The news reports will be sharing the same basic information over and over again and to young children it can make it seem like the event just keeps happening. That can make it all seem scarier to them than what it should be.So turn it off and walk away. If you want updates check your twitter and Facebook feeds quietly.

4. Make them feel safe. Even if you aren't feeling entirely safe at the moment, it's our job to reassure our children that they are in fact safe. You can do this by reminding them that mom and/or dad are there to help keep them safe and that you will try your best to not allow anything to happen to them. Point out the people within the community that are there to keep them safe. Show them the police officers, the firefighters, heck even the security guard at a local store that are all there with the purpose to keep everyone safe.


In the end, just remember that this may be scary for us as adults but it can be even scarier for our kids so we need to help to walk them through all of these events and show them that they can make changes as they grow up and hopefully change the world around them for the better.

As I stated above, my heart goes out to everyone that's had to go through something like this.