a lot of times parents make the mistake of talking to their children as if they were their caregiver and their support system, like an emotional surrogate. be careful. a lot of times parents turn to their children and this is not the time. you should be providing support to your child and the best way to do it is for you to get support for yourself, counseling, with clergy, with family members, community members, there is a lot of mental health organizations that are providing outreach. and sometimes as a family, if you feel uncomfortable having this conversation with your child, one on one, why not take advantage of any of the mental health resources that are available to have that dialogue, maybe moderated with you and your child. it is very hard to shield your kids from the story this big. in fact, many of them are going to school and they re having drills, shutdown drills. they want to know why and their teachers are talking to them about it. there was a heart breaking story twee
here is what it says. jack, you are my best friend. we had fun together. i will miss you. i will talk to you in my prayers. i love you, jack. love, john. how do you talk to kids? is it helpful for them to be able to write or draw pictures, especially the young ones. absolutely. realize at every age and stage children will need to express themselves differently. it might be in the form of a letter. it might be in the form of volunteering to raise money. it might be in the form of providing support and bringing awareness to gun control issues, to other issues, writing letters to your state legislator. there are a variety of ways. i think altruism is a protective factor in preventing ptsd and we see there are certain things people can do in the aftermath so they can bolster up those support systems. one of them is giving back to the community. another one is having flexible coping mechanisms so that a child may express himself differently. one child may withdraw.