Addressing Anxieties After the Connecticut Tragedy

Child care professionals across the country are confronting children who may be troubled by the devastating tragedy that recently took the lives of 20 young children in Connecticut. As kids return to school, questions remain on how best to make kids feel safe in the classroom.

Returning to school since the shooting "is going to be a huge reminder for children," says Priscilla Dass-Brailsford, an associate professor of psychology at Georgetown University Medical Center. She notes the importance of maintaining routines and school schedules. Kids need this structure to reassure them that their schools and classrooms are safe. Child care professionals advise parents and teachers to be sensitive to a child’s questions and concerns. They should respond promptly to any changes in a child’s behavior that reveal stress or anxiety. 

"Tune in to your own child and listen closely," says Peter Saxe, chairman of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the NYU Langone Medical Center and director of the NYC Child Study Center. While some children may openly express their fears, others may conceal their anxieties and fears in silence, concerned that “a place of safety and learning has become a place where a terrible thing can happen." He notes that children should be given child clear answers to their concerns. Saxe advises parents to be with their children as much as possible. "This is a time when children need to be with their families," says Saxe.

 

It’s also important to "rebuild trust in the school," says Cheri Lovre, of the Oregon-based Crisis Management Institute, who worked with New York City schools after 9/11. She insists that scripted re-entry programs can help. Such programs address the fears and concerns parents and children may have before schools reopen after a major national tragedy.  While the knee-jerk response may be to add uniformed patrols, barricades and metal detectors to assuage parents concerns, this may not make children feel safe. "They may say they really want to see more moms in the hall or moms in the classroom. Children need to see that adults have taken control of the situation," says Lovre.

Stuart Goldman, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston, suggests parents "put up as much of a firewall as they can" to limit their child’s exposure to the tragedy. "This isn't a good time to be running the six o'clock news during dinner," Goldman says. "Watch DVDs tonight, instead of TV, so you don't risk having someone interrupt the show with breaking news about the shooting." The same warning applies to a child’s use of computers—images on YouTube can be especially troubling. 

A guide published by the Lucy Daniels Center, a mental health agency based in North Carolina, advises that children who learn of a disturbing event will be shaken, even if there are no outward signs. It advises parents to moderate their reaction to the shooting because children often imitate those reactions. 

 

While children may be troubled by the Connecticut shootings, experts agree, there are specific steps child care professionals can take to limit the emotional impact of this tragedy.

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