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Taking the Fear Out of the News

Flight 800, the Olympic bombing--bad news can traumatize a young child. How do you reassure your kids after an act of terrorism? Is it OK to let them watch the nightly news, or should we filter the information and temper its effect? Get Marguerite Kelly's opinion, or share your thoughts.


Sarah from bio.net at Monday July 29, 1996, 5:15 pm PDT
I try to keep my kids from seeing too much TV news. It's too violent. When something happens that I feel they need to know, I learn what I can then sit down with them and explain it at their level. Kids don't need to know everything, especially violent information that will scare them more than anything. They have their whole lives to learn that the world isn't perfect.


Brenden from cybernet.org at Monday July 29, 1996, 5:23 pm PDT
Kids are people too and they can watch and evaluate for themselves. I let my children watch the news with me and my wife because it makes them more informed. Afterwards, we talk about what we saw. If they are upset about something then we talk about it. When the TWA flight exploded we had a long conversation about what happened. My two children had plenty of questions and comments. This system builds family communication and lets our kids become more informed.



Cathy Pearson from uni.edu at Tuesday, Jul. 30, 1996, 12:29pm ET
As much as we would like to we do our children a disservice by limiting or buffering the truth. As opposed to having them feeling depressed behind things they have no control over. I believe it is more important to bridge these things with my religious beliefs. The should understand we all have limited time on this planet. There is a prescribed time for us all to depart from the living. There is no choice. There is choice in living a good, productive and full life. This way if our life is cut short and least we know we have lived it. If my ticket expires on July 30, 1996 how I go becomes so insignificant.
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How do you discuss bad news with your kids?

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