Moms Talk
Talking to Your Kids About the Newtown School Shooting
An expert shares advice for parents who are trying to explain the Newtown school shooting to their kids.
In the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting tragedy, parents are wondering what to tell their children about what happened and how to help them process what they may be hearing from friends, on television and via social media. Lauren Hutchinson, LMFT is a child and family therapist and parenting consultant with a practice in Bellevue, WA. She says step one for parents is to “turn off the TV”. “We don’t want to have the TV playing in the background all the time. It isn’t helpful and the news is traumatizing for kids to watch.” For kids age seven and younger Hutchinson says, “you want to shield them from the media coverage completely and parents should not initiate a conversation about the event because kids this age cannot make sense of…
