1. We have to sit our children down and tell them what happened if they are old enough to know what happened. We tell them that something bad has happened and give them only details that they "NEED" to know. I mean, we don't need to tell a 2-year old about the tragedy. My son was almost 2-years old when 9/11 happened and he wouldn't have understood what I was trying to tell him. He learned about it when he got older.
2. Try not to dwell on it too much so we don't scare them into believing that it could happen to them, even though nobody is truly 100% safe from an attack We had the news on and were listening to what had happened and after about an hour, my 13-year old son said "I've seen enough. I need to watch something else". He is old enough to verbalize his feelings but a 6-year old may not be able to say that they have had enough.
3. If your child is old enough for this to bother them, ask if they would like to talk about it. Do this, especially, if you sense that it is on their mind.
4. Reassure them that they are safe and that they will be okay. We have to comfort them even though we know that hate is all around us. Don't lie to them and say that it could never happen where you live but do try to help them process what happened offering them comfort and keep your emotions in check. We all were shocked, upset and angry about what happened but we cannot let our emotions be transferred to our children.
5. If you believe in God, pray together for the injured and for the families and friends of the people who were killed. If you choose, pray for the people who did this, that God would soften their hearts. That they would feel love for their fellow man and not hate.
6. Show them how the people came together and offered their help. If you watch the video of the events, you will see police, firemen, paramedics, EMTs, National Guard and regular people coming together to help the injured. They ran toward the blast, not away from it. Talk about the heroes in this tragedy. The men and women who were hurt but helped the people who were injured much worse. The doctors and nurses in the hospitals who worked overtime to make sure that every patient was taken care of because that was the right thing to do. Nobody asked the victims if they were democrats or republicans, gay or straight, black or white, young or old. They simply helped. During times of tragedy, we come together as Americans and Human Beings. Compassion was shown and that is an important trait of Americans and Human Beings. There are more good than evil people in this world, even though we may think otherwise sometimes. This is a good time to talk about empathy for their fellow man.
As parents, we have a hard job. Events such as this makes our jobs even harder. Be patient with your children as they come to you with questions. Be patient with their emotions. Remember that we, as parents, do not understand this so our children, certainly, do not.
