{"id":18169,"date":"2020-04-01T09:55:05","date_gmt":"2020-04-01T13:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/?p=18169"},"modified":"2020-04-01T09:55:07","modified_gmt":"2020-04-01T13:55:07","slug":"talking-to-kids-about-scary-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/talking-to-kids-about-scary-things\/","title":{"rendered":"Talking to Kids About Scary Things"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"How<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was taking my 18-month-old on a walk around the neighborhood recently and when he spotted our neighbor he barrelled towards her with arms outstretched and demanded, \u201cHuggy, huggy.\u201d She warmly said hi but told him \u201cno huggies today.\u201d I picked him up and as we walked away he looked back at her confused saying, \u201cHuggy? Huggy?\u201d unable to conceive of a reason why someone wouldn\u2019t take him up on his generous offer. Obviously, there is no way for me to explain the real reason why we aren\u2019t running around hugging each other these days. But I was imagining how I would talk to James about upsetting things when he\u2019s older.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most difficult aspects of parenting is deciding how and when to talk to your children about upsetting things. You want to protect them from being scared or anxious but you also know it\u2019s important for them to have some awareness of the world as they mature and eventually become young adults. Every parent needs to decide on their own age appropriate balance. I recently read some articles about this subject and thought they brought up some really great advice that parents would benefit from. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The articles I read were Is The News Too Scary for Kids<\/a> and How to Talk to Kids About Coronavirus<\/a>. Here are some of the key points and my thoughts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Age is Appropriate <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It seems like experts recommend waiting until your child is 7 to start talking about potentially upsetting current events. Kids younger than 7 \u201chave a hard time differentiating between what\u2019s real and what\u2019s fake, what\u2019s near and what\u2019s far, what\u2019s possible and what\u2019s highly improbable.\u201d So they won\u2019t be able to really regulate their emotions and reactions. Obviously if it\u2019s something that directly affects them then you have to do your best to explain it in a way they can understand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask Them What They Know<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kids are generally more perceptive than we remember. I remember times as a child when adults around me would try to talk to me about something and even as a young girl being offended they were telling me information I already knew. It\u2019s a good idea to start the conversation with finding out how much they know already, correcting misinformation, and asking them what questions they have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be Aware of Your Energy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In my own experience, even young toddlers can sense the energy of their parents. If mom and dad are incredibly anxious, or angry, or weeping, while they say everything is going to be ok, the child is unlikely to hear the message. Process your own emotions before talking to your kids. Try to be calm and reassuring and focus on their emotions and don\u2019t dismiss their fears. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talk in a Way They Can Understand<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Parents know their kids better than anyone. When I was a child, I appreciated a more adult style of conversation. But I know many younger children might get scared or confused if their parents suddenly started talking like the nightly news. You know your child\u2019s level of understanding and the best way to communicate with them. You could jot down some notes or practice how best to talk to them before having a conversation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you talked to your kids about COVID-19? How did it go?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was taking my 18-month-old on a walk around the neighborhood recently and when he spotted our neighbor he barrelled …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[999],"tags":[1176,1189],"class_list":["post-18169","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-motherhood","tag-parenting"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}