Taken from ASCA:Helping Kids During Crisis • Try and keep routines as normal as possible. Kids gain security from the predictability of routine, including attending school.
• Limit exposure to television and the news.
• Be honest with kids and share with them as much information as they are developmentally able to handle.
• Listen to kids’ fears and concerns.
• Reassure kids that the world is a good place to be, but that there are people who do bad things.
• Parents and adults need to first deal with and assess their own responses to crisis and stress.
• Rebuild and reaffirm attachments and relationships.
Here are some other resources and links on good tips about how to talk to kids and help kids cope with traumatic events.
http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/aftermath.aspx
http://www.nasponline.org/resources/crisis_safety/talkingviolence.pdf
http://rems.ed.gov/Display.aspx?page=resources_helpingYouthRecover
http://www.childmind.org/en/posts/articles/2011-12-27-helping-your-child-cope-deaths-friends
http://www.nctsn.org/trauma-types/traumatic-grief
http://www.newyorklife.com/newyorklife.com/General/FileLink/Static%20Files/New%20York%20Life%20Foundation%20Bereavement%20Guide%20-%20After%20a%20Loved%20One%20Dies%20.pdf
Suggested Publications
Books for Kids:
“A Terrible Thing Happened”
Margaret M. Holmes
ISBN # 1-57759-696-X
Dalmation Press , P.O. Box 682068, Franklin, TN 37068-2068
“Reactions”
Allison Salloum
Centering Corporation , Chicago, Illinois
“Why Did it Happen?”
Janice Cohen (1994 )
Morrow Junior Books, New York, NY
Books for Parents:
“Children and Trauma: A Parent’s Guide to Helping Children Heal”
Josey-Bass , San Francisco, CA
“The Scared Child: Helping Kids Overcome Traumatic Events”
John Wiley, New York, New York
Books for Children - Kansas City Hospice Bibliography
After the Funeral by: Jane Loretta Winsch
A Book for You from Kids Like You by: Rachel Burrell and Barbara Coe
First Snow by: Helen Coutant
When Dinosaurs Die by: Laurene Krasny Brown and Marc Brown
Lots of other books for kids on death and grief:
http://booksthathealkids.blogspot.com/search/label/death%20and%20grief
Books for Parents about Children's Grief - Kansas City Hospice Bibliography
Explaining Death to Children by: Earl Grollman
The Grieving Child: A Parent's Guidebook by: Helen Fitzgerald
How Do We Tell the Children? by: Schaefer Lyons
Keys to Helping Children Deal with Death and Grief by: Joy Johnson
Talking about Death: A Dialogue Between Parent and Child by: Earl Grollman
• Limit exposure to television and the news.
• Be honest with kids and share with them as much information as they are developmentally able to handle.
• Listen to kids’ fears and concerns.
• Reassure kids that the world is a good place to be, but that there are people who do bad things.
• Parents and adults need to first deal with and assess their own responses to crisis and stress.
• Rebuild and reaffirm attachments and relationships.
Here are some other resources and links on good tips about how to talk to kids and help kids cope with traumatic events.
http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/aftermath.aspx
http://www.nasponline.org/resources/crisis_safety/talkingviolence.pdf
http://rems.ed.gov/Display.aspx?page=resources_helpingYouthRecover
http://www.childmind.org/en/posts/articles/2011-12-27-helping-your-child-cope-deaths-friends
http://www.nctsn.org/trauma-types/traumatic-grief
http://www.newyorklife.com/newyorklife.com/General/FileLink/Static%20Files/New%20York%20Life%20Foundation%20Bereavement%20Guide%20-%20After%20a%20Loved%20One%20Dies%20.pdf
Suggested Publications
Books for Kids:
“A Terrible Thing Happened”
Margaret M. Holmes
ISBN # 1-57759-696-X
Dalmation Press , P.O. Box 682068, Franklin, TN 37068-2068
“Reactions”
Allison Salloum
Centering Corporation , Chicago, Illinois
“Why Did it Happen?”
Janice Cohen (1994 )
Morrow Junior Books, New York, NY
Books for Parents:
“Children and Trauma: A Parent’s Guide to Helping Children Heal”
Josey-Bass , San Francisco, CA
“The Scared Child: Helping Kids Overcome Traumatic Events”
John Wiley, New York, New York
Books for Children - Kansas City Hospice Bibliography
After the Funeral by: Jane Loretta Winsch
A Book for You from Kids Like You by: Rachel Burrell and Barbara Coe
First Snow by: Helen Coutant
When Dinosaurs Die by: Laurene Krasny Brown and Marc Brown
Lots of other books for kids on death and grief:
http://booksthathealkids.blogspot.com/search/label/death%20and%20grief
Books for Parents about Children's Grief - Kansas City Hospice Bibliography
Explaining Death to Children by: Earl Grollman
The Grieving Child: A Parent's Guidebook by: Helen Fitzgerald
How Do We Tell the Children? by: Schaefer Lyons
Keys to Helping Children Deal with Death and Grief by: Joy Johnson
Talking about Death: A Dialogue Between Parent and Child by: Earl Grollman