How to talk about terror in Paris with our children?

Attacks in Paris: talking with children about the terror
The pictures and film footage of the terrorist attacks in Paris are hard to bear, even for adults. Children and adolescents are usually more scared of the news. Parents should not put too much pressure on their children when they talk to them about the incidents.
News about terror in Paris is omnipresent
For some time, terrorist attacks were one of the fears of the future plaguing many young people. In France they have now - again - become reality. Worldwide, the images and news of the murderous attacks in Paris are omnipresent. Even children and adolescents are confronted with it. Especially the little ones are scared, but many teenagers are also unsure.

When it comes to such bad events, many parents are unsure how to proceed. In general, experts advise to talk about it. For example, it was recommended after the German Wings disaster in the spring to discuss the plane crash with children. The events in Paris should also be discussed with the offspring. For the parents, this is a big challenge. An expert gives tips on what should be considered.

Children need conversation to understand and process fears. Picture: altanaka - fotolia

Tell younger children about incidents with a good ending
As Maria Große Perdekamp said in a news agency dpa news release, it is very important to make it much easier for young children, up to the third year of schooling, to explain it well. Grosse Perdekamp, ​​head of the online consultation of the Federal Conference on Educational Counseling, further explained that parents should protect the little ones as much as possible from images: "The emotional impact of images is simply enormous and they are usually not relevant to understanding." For younger children Backgrounds such as political relationships are not yet comprehensible. Therefore, adults should better say something like, "There, bad people attacked others because they did not agree with the politics in the country. This is wrong and very bad - but the police are looking for the people and have already caught some and they are going to jail for it. "This good ending is very important for the little ones to reduce their fears.

Parents should provide security
Although there is no guarantee that the current situation will develop, parents should provide security. For example, you can declare: "Here at home we are safe." Under no circumstances should the adults be afraid or announce consequences such as: "We better stop going to the concert." However, the confrontation with images will never be completely prevented. When it comes to the kiosk or in the subway, for example, mothers and fathers are best at first to see if their child perceives this and reacts to it. If so, they should go into it, but put positive things in the foreground. For example, parents might say, "That's terrible, what happened there, but there are many helpers. Very quickly doctors and the police were there, and the people were helped. "

Talk about the attacks with young people in more detail
Sometimes even teenagers are enormously agitated and unsettled by the news. With them, it is usually possible to talk in more detail about the incidents and to address issues such as religion or values. But again, it is important not to be afraid. "And you should not leave young people alone," said Grosse Perdekamp. For example, in the evening parents could sit down to bed with the teenagers and talk to them in peace about the subject. (Ad)