Helping Kids Cope With Disaster Fears

As a journalist and intelligent woman, I get my news from several outlets. CNN, Huffington Post, The New York Times, Reuters … and "Live! With Regis and Kelly."

What? Doesn’t everyone?

Anyway, this morning during my daily news download, Kelly and the Reg were talking about the disaster in Japan, and the threat of a nuclear catastrophe. Kelly mentioned that people of our generation—kids of the 60s and 70s—were terrified of the threat of nuclear war. But today’s kids hardly know what a nuclear disaster is.

Funny, isn’t it?

These are the kids who have grown up with threats of terrorism, with images of 9/11 only a hazy recollection.

Are they afraid? Or with the barrage of images they are bombarded with due to TV, the Internet and video games, are they numb?

Apparently, they are still capable of fear. Watching the earthquake and tsunami coverage last weekend, my 17-year-old son said, somewhat incredulously,  “Wow! That could happen here!”

Yes, we live in earthquake country. Far enough from the coast, but still in no way out of harm’s way.

Over the last few days, both he and his 13-year-old brother have wondered about their safety. Could it happen here? What would we do if it happened? What other things could happen?

As a mom, I could tell them of the millions of things I fear could happen to them every single time they are out of my sight. But I don’t. Those fears are the musings of a psychotic mind—a condition most parents share.

But I can talk to them, turn this terrible tragedy into one of those “teaching moments.” Together we can put together an earthquake kit. (Since the last time I put one together, the youngest was still in diapers.) We can set up a plan to contact other family members out of state if in-state communication lines are down. We will agree not to rely on cell phones, texting or the Internet. I will introduce them to a battery-powered transistor radio.

It might help them feel a little bit in control about things they have no control over.

And it will help me feel a bit safer, too.

If you’d like some more information on how to talk to kids about tragedy, check out this PBS Kids link, here.