

sad or bored little school girl



  • If a child brings up the topic
  1. Listen fully to their comment or question.
  2. It is best to start with providing empathy.
  3. You may then:
    1. Add a comment that shows you understand them.
    3. OR, let them know this is a good question to discuss with their mom and dad. Let them know that you will write their question or concern down and share it with their parents.
  4. Provide reassurance.



  • If a child asks questions:


“Some grown-ups make the rules about how all grown-ups can travel. This weekend some of those rules changed and you are right, a few people were stuck at the airport. They are safe and many people are helping solve the problem.” This would be answering the question in a small and honest way without taking sides.

  • Finishing all of the above would be saying something to reassure them that their school is safe, that this is all between grown-ups who will work together to solve the confusion. Reassurance can also be that this is not about children at all.

Other Guidelines About Community Stress and Young Children


It is helpful for parents to know that they both set the emotional landscape and are the gatekeepers to the amount of information their young children receive. The hope is that, parents can find calm and reassuring ways to speak with their children and limit the amount of information to a few basic sentences to address their concerns.

In the preschool years, community or family stress can cause changes in social behavior (level of outgoing, tantrums, testing behaviors, golden behaviors), sleep patterns, eating patterns, regression in speech and bathrooming changes. Children may have nightmares or may develop new fears, such as being scared of the dark or of dogs, when they weren’t before.

Young children need relaxed play time, time with caring and relaxed adults, typical routines and schedules, bedtime routines and time to talk as needed. Between preschool and third grade, it is most important for parents to keep nap time, bedtime routines and schedules intact. A stressed family is never better with an exhausted child.
