Exchange Everyday is providing a great free resource on how to listen and respond to children when they have questions about acts of violence. The authors of this article, David Barry and Lisa Lucas, are providing this great resource for educators and families in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary and Uvalde school shootings. David and Lisa’s tips include:
- If your students bring it up, you need to address it.
- Listen first, then correct misinformation.
- Share back only factual and relevant information.
- Talk about feelings.
- Conclude the conversation by bringing it back to safety.
- Maintain routines as much as possible.
- Communicate and support their caregivers.
- Consider acts of advocacy and victim support.
- Prepare for children with varying levels of information
Listen earnestly to anything your children want to tell you, no matter what. If you don’t listen eagerly to the little stuff when they are little, they won’t tell you the big stuff when they are big, because to them all of it has always been big stuff.
— Catherine M. Wallace and Diane Leonard
Review the full resource as well as additional resources.
