We all struggle to deal with tragic and terrible events in our lives, our community, country, and global community.  We are all aware of how children may be affected by such violent realities. As caregivers, parents, and teachers we can provide comfort, reassurance and stability.

• Encourage younger children to seek physical comfort from their parents and relatives. Hugs and hand-holding from parents can provide children with the comfort and security that they need.
• Provide reassuring and appropriate smiles without being glib.
• Reassure your children that you are there to take care of them and that they are safe in your company.
• Express your own feelings of confusion, sadness, and fear but do so in a way that shows you are relying on prayer and faith to cope during moments that you don’t understand.
• Provide structure for your students. Children find security in consistency, especially when faced with such an unpredictable disaster. Reliance and traditional prayers and forms of prayer such as the Rosary can provide great comfort for children.
• Emphasize familiar routines and ritual.
• Play some soothing music as they work and speak in a slow, calm, quiet voice.
• Invite (but do not pressure) children to talk about the disaster. This gives them a sense of control and can help them to sort out their feelings.
• Provide a little more time than usual for children to relax and do some activity that is therapeutic such as coloring or playing with modeling clay. Older children can be engaged in physical activities (a game) that provide some emotional release.
• Children feel powerless in the wake of an unpredictable and violent tragedy. Be sure to talk about and model peaceful resolutions to conflict as a way of giving children a sense of control in difficult situations.
• Some children react to tragedies by behaving aggressively. Emphasize the need to find and use alternatives to violence as a way to solve conflicts.
• Keep your perspective and avoid expressing anger and vindictive emotions about the perpetrator of this violence. Help the children to avoid making inappropriate assumptions about the perpetrator by using labels based on ethnicity, religious background, etc.
• Children may show signs of stress following a tragedy such as this. Keep an eye open for changes in behavior. Very young children may resort to thumbsucking, clinging, and isolation from other children. Older children may show signs of irritability, aggression, lack of focus, and other changes in behavior. All of this is natural as they process their anxiety and fear so show patience with them.
• Pray together for the victims, their families, for those who were touched by the tragedy, and for all those who were involved in responding to the crisis.

Inspired by and Adapted from “When Disaster Strikes: Helping Young Children Cope” by Jane M. Farish –an NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) brochure.

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