Should Our Children Watch News Coverage From Japan?

Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of local parents takes your questions, gives advice and shares solutions.

Today, we tackle the question of how to handle sensitive or disturbing news stories with children, a timely topic given the disaster in Japan. Should you let your young children watch television news coverage, and how should you explain the events to them? Grab a cup of coffee and check out what our panel of local parents has to say.

Lindsay Barnes-Felix: First and foremost, our family would like to express our deepest sympathies and prayers for those effected by this terrible tragedy. In our home, we have such a range in our children's ages that it can be difficult to decide what is and what is not appropriate for viewing.

However, we want to be sure our children are well educated on what is going on around the world. Our son Chadem is an avid traveler, spending much time in Hong Kong and mainland China and attending school and univiersities with children from Japan and many other countries, so for him, it was absolutely appropriate to view this devastation, as he has a different knowledge, understanding and view of the world than his brother and sister. So for Chadem at the age of 10 to view and discuss and want to help the country of Japan was never a second thought in our home. 

As for our son Ethan, who is 7, we informed him of the event and talked about feelings as well as prepared him for the images he would see. I personally did not want him to see the images, but his inquiring mind did. So he was able to view some of the news coverage and had quite a few questions, and it all resulted in him emptying his piggy bank wanting to help the country of Japan. 

Our daughter Madelyn is 3, and has tunnel vision and truly could not and would not understand this event and the aftermath. She would truly see what she would see, and not be able to express of comprehend any of it. In the end, I truly respect a parent's decision with this topic, whatever it may be. But feel as though if you know your child could be traumatized by the viewing material, then they should not see it, and if you know your child can maturely handle seeing such trauma, support them when they view it, ask how it makes them feel, how can we be prepared for such a disaster, and how they help those affected.

Tracy Evans: My husband and I make minor decisions every day on behalf of our “almost-3-year-old” little boy. The major decisions are negotiated carefully in an ongoing conversation as we brainstorm the best choice to make knowing our family, our values and our little guy. But in the larger world beyond our home and influence, we are still improvising our way when new circumstances appear and we stumble to rise to the occasion. 

With the disturbing tragedy about Japan unfolding in our home, I made an impromptu decision and allowed our son to watch the news for one brief moment. The imagery during this time included cars, ships and buildings being swept away by massive amounts of water. He asked what happened, and I told him it was something very sad that happened to our friends who live far away. 

We only watched a small amount because I did not want him to be frightened. I readily admit that I don’t have all the answers as a mom and I accept that I am learning and growing every day, but this decision rested comfortably with me. It was just enough time for him to see that sad things happen to people we don’t know and to learn that we care very much for those families and friends in Japan. 

I hope to teach him that the love and caring we have for family and friends extends beyond those people to a larger community. I hope to teach him compassion, sympathy and empathy by practicing these in our home. As parents we try our best to choose wisely and monitor our television programs, but I just realized how important it is to monitor the news before they deliver something very frightening on live coverage before we can change the channel.

Maryann Murray: I think I may be the only person who does not watch the news in front of my children. We put the TV on after the kids go to bed during the week, and on the weekends between activities and play dates, they watch their own shows or videos. I agree with Lindsay with regards to the tunnel vision for my 3- and 5-year-olds. I wouldn't even want them to see any scary footage at this point.  

Our 7-year-old has seen some footage on our computer with my husband showing the earthquake, but no one was getting hurt in this particular video. My husband and I did talk about the subject at dinner over the weekend and we just told the kids that something terrible happened in Japan and that we needed to send them happy thoughts and prayers to help them through this time.

It is really hard what to say because you really don't know what will be discussed at school. We want our kids to be aware about the world, but I also want them to be kids. So I guess I still feel like even my 7-year-old could be too young to get the "real" facts. I think whatever you decide to share or not share isn't so black and white and will change from topic to topic and absolutely with age.

Gillian Casey: I feel my kids are on the young side for exposure to this tragedy, and I’ve kept them sheltered from it. They are 5 and 3. My 5-year-old happens to be incredibly empathetic and even as an infant would cry if he heard another baby cry. He asks about death a lot, and we try to answer his questions and address his fears. I truly think viewing the images from Japan would have an enormous and negative impact on him. I plan to shelter him a little longer.

That said, I have spoken to him about it briefly, but would not expose him to TV coverage, as it is designed to shock and instill fear anyway. Certainly it is not the most appropriate medium for sharing information about a tragedy, in my opinion. 

Kat Lynch: Like many others, we are protecting Miles from news coverage, Internet content and other information about the earthquake and tsunami. We don't watch network or cable TV news, but we do listen to radio news while driving and read various online media. We are careful to shut off the radio, close the browser window, etc., when Miles is around, much for similar reasons as others have voiced: he is simply too young (4.5 years) to understand it without being frightened for his own safety or that of people he cares about.

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