Either a Russian invasion of Ukraine is imminent, or Vladmir Putin really wants us to think it’s imminent: Russian President Vladimir Putin and top Russian officials for months have been denying that Moscow is preparing to mount an invasion of neighboring Ukraine. But videos posted to TikTok and other social media platforms tell another story.
The first major news story I recall being conscious of was that JFK had won the presidential election of 1960. I was 6, and it's a vague memory. The next major news story I recall being conscious of is a much more vivid memory. I was 8, and to this day I haven't forgotten the looks on my parent's faces as they sat and listened to the President address the nation on TV in Oct. of '62. My father was a vet of the U.S. Merchant Service during WWII. He had been aboard one ship that was struck by a German torpedo, and another by a Japanese shell, which ended the war for him due to the wound he received from that. He had a first-hand knowledge of what war and destruction were, and his face was grim and ice cold. My mother's face was no less grim, but it countenanced fear as well. This instilled no small amount of confusion and worry in me, and the simple (and, really the only) reassurance my parents had to offer was that "Things will be OK." What else are you gonna' tell a kid who even at that young age knew what a missile was and that the amount of water between the threat and us was of no consequence.
By all means, offer any and all reassurances you can to your kids. They pay attention to and understand far more than we adults often give them credit for. But in the innocence of their youth, they understand nothing of the way the world actually works. At least this time the threat doesn't involve missiles aimed at us. Not directly or immediately, anyway. So, at least you've got that ocean thing working in your favor.
Not having lived through them, I don't know what the '30's felt like. But knowing of them what I do, I'm sure starting to get the flavor.
There is always a way to explain things to kids at their own level. If they are old enough to worry about it - especially highly intelligent children - then they need an explanation that gives them facts in a way they can understand. Otherwise they will worry silently...and that is not good.
Pointing them to credible news sources to explore on their own after exploring the news with them has also brought good results. My youngest, who has older siblings that learned this from me at a young age, does this automatically - looks it up and then asks questions. Kids can be taught to think critically and seek factual sources from an earlier age than one might think, and one can start them off by teaching them to do this with everyday things where the worry factor is not quite as high. (That's also a good opportunity to teach them over time how to discern credible information sources from...not so credible ones.)
The first major news story I recall being conscious of was that JFK had won the presidential election of 1960. I was 6, and it's a vague memory. The next major news story I recall being conscious of is a much more vivid memory. I was 8, and to this day I haven't forgotten the looks on my parent's faces as they sat and listened to the President address the nation on TV in Oct. of '62. My father was a vet of the U.S. Merchant Service during WWII. He had been aboard one ship that was struck by a German torpedo, and another by a Japanese shell, which ended the war for him due to the wound he received from that. He had a first-hand knowledge of what war and destruction were, and his face was grim and ice cold. My mother's face was no less grim, but it countenanced fear as well. This instilled no small amount of confusion and worry in me, and the simple (and, really the only) reassurance my parents had to offer was that "Things will be OK." What else are you gonna' tell a kid who even at that young age knew what a missile was and that the amount of water between the threat and us was of no consequence.
By all means, offer any and all reassurances you can to your kids. They pay attention to and understand far more than we adults often give them credit for. But in the innocence of their youth, they understand nothing of the way the world actually works. At least this time the threat doesn't involve missiles aimed at us. Not directly or immediately, anyway. So, at least you've got that ocean thing working in your favor.
Not having lived through them, I don't know what the '30's felt like. But knowing of them what I do, I'm sure starting to get the flavor.
There is always a way to explain things to kids at their own level. If they are old enough to worry about it - especially highly intelligent children - then they need an explanation that gives them facts in a way they can understand. Otherwise they will worry silently...and that is not good.
Pointing them to credible news sources to explore on their own after exploring the news with them has also brought good results. My youngest, who has older siblings that learned this from me at a young age, does this automatically - looks it up and then asks questions. Kids can be taught to think critically and seek factual sources from an earlier age than one might think, and one can start them off by teaching them to do this with everyday things where the worry factor is not quite as high. (That's also a good opportunity to teach them over time how to discern credible information sources from...not so credible ones.)