Health Report: Discussing school shootings with children

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - Mental health professionals are weighing in on the importance of discussing gun violence with children following another recent tragic school shooting. This time in Nashville, Tennessee.

Six people lost their lives in the shooting and three of those were children.

Firearm related injuries have become the leading cause of death among children in the U.S. according to Global Health Policy.

With the frequent occurrence of mass school shootings in our society, it is normal for anyone to fall victim of secondhand anxiety or feelings of fear and distress, including children. Licensed therapist, Jody Baumstein, claims that children may not be able to find the words to express their feelings about the tragedies they are seeing or hearing about. Baumstein says their feelings could manifest as irritability or edginess and they could be easy to startle or might appear to be disobedient and defiant.

She offers some tips for parents on how to approach the difficult conversation. Simply being there for your child and asking open-ended questions is a great way to start. She also advises parents to not lie about what is happening. “We can’t tell them that something like this will never happen in their community, in their school, but we can validate their feelings that it is scary.”

Baumstein concludes there are many ways to express emotion without talking about it. Baumstein goes on to say children may not be ready to have conversations surrounding gun violence and recommends creative outlets such as music, dance, art, or movement, as an alternative way for expressing their feelings.

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