What to say to kids when the news is scary

Life Kit: Parenting

NPR

Kids & Family

4.4 • 634 Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2022

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The news can be devastating, and tragic events can be incomprehensible for adults — so how do we talk about them with kids? Child development experts offer advice on what parents, teachers and other caregivers can say to help kids process all the scary news out there.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for NPR and the following message comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
0:05.4	RWJF is a national philanthropy working toward a future where health is no longer a privilege but a right.
0:12.1	Learn more at RWJF.org.
0:15.4	Hi there. We are all thinking of the victims and families of the Uvaldi school shooting this week.
0:22.2	If you're struggling about how to talk with your kids about this tragedy, this episode might help.
0:30.4	First, it was the radio.
0:33.3	Then, television, and now, the internet.
0:39.0	Bringing news of the outside world into our homes.
0:42.4	Wait, Corey, what is this?
0:44.1	That was pretty good, right?
0:44.8	Is this?
0:45.4	I thought this was Life Kit.
0:46.7	That was my announcer voice.
0:47.8	I'm doing an old news reel.
0:49.3	Oh, okay.
0:50.1	Great.
0:50.5	Well, we're talking about news in our homes, right?
0:52.7	Oh, yes, yes, yes.
0:53.5	Okay, so we are.
0:54.4	So, yes, we are all taking in news all the time, this crazy 24-hour news cycle.
0:59.8	But what we don't always realize is that our children are often listening right alongside us.
1:05.5	And sometimes that's not so great.
	...

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