How to Talk to Kids About The News

How to Talk to Your Kids About the News

The news is hard for me to handle these days, and I am an adult. There is no way I could process it if I were a child. There are so many hard issues facing our world and nation today. When we are trying to decide how to talk to our kids about the news, we decide several things:

How much would my child understand?
How much can my child handle?
How will each bit of news affect each child?
What might they need to know so they don’t hear it elsewhere?
How does the news line up with our family’s values?

First of all, news should be curated. Leaving the television news on while little ones might come in the room can present problems. While we need to know the news, we need to find a way to get that news from reputable sources without our children being indiscriminately exposed to it. Maybe that means watching it on our computers in an enclosed room. Maybe it is only when the children aren’t in the house or are asleep. When we talk to our kids about the news, we should look at it from several sources and decide what they can know about that won’t adversely affect their emotional well-being.

Protect Them From Scenes and Knowledge That Would Hurt Them Emotionally

Visual images can’t be erased from kids minds. Therefore it is important not to expose them to images that would cause them fear or affect them emotionally in some other way. Base this on your knowledge of each of your children to protect them.

Preschool children don’t need to know most of the news. School aged children may hear about news issues at school.

Decide What They Should Know

If you have school-aged children, knowing what they should know is an important decision. if you have school-aged children. They may hear about it from teachers and other students. See links below for some news sites created specifically for kids. These can help school-aged children learn about topics you choose to let them read, or better yet read together. These are helpful because they cover good things that are happening in the world. They can also come in handy when your child has to do a current event project.

Again, it is crucial that you curate even children’s news sites to see what matches your family’s values or what would provide you with good conversations with your children.

Discuss How Jesus Would React

We must be careful if some news angers us (which is likely). It is important not to instill that anger in your children toward a group of people. They will internalize that more than the issue at hand. Think through Jesus’ core values: love for others, a heart for the poor, salvation, an eternal perspective, and forgiveness. Those can be good reminders for us as well. If you are struggling check our the Resources For Women page.

Show Them Some Good That People Are Doing In Response to the Tragedy

God is at work in every situation through how His people meet the needs of others. Find stories of people helping people, especially Christian Organizations. Teach a tender heart for others.

Teach Them to Think Critically

My granddaughter returned from vacation and told me, “There was a man that kept telling us that Santa Cruz is the happiest place on earth. I don’t think he was right because there are so many homeless people there.” She heard an adult saying something, but it didn’t match what her little heart knew to be true, so she wanted to talk to me about it. Try not to miss out on these opportunities. We can teach them to trust their heart guided by faith without being easily swayed by what others say.

Give Them an Outlet

When you discuss events from the news, if you feel your child’s heart break over an issue, give her a way to give. Find ways your church or other local organizations serve others and discuss doing something as a family. I know part of what caused my children’s soft hearts was because they tagged along with me to soup kitchens, clothing giveaways and mission trips. We also discussed a lot of issues at home. Recently my youngest daughter was talking vehemently about an important issue and she said, “I’m sorry Mama. I just realized I was up on a soapbox you helped me build!”

Another way to help guide our children is to help them choose a charity that matches your child’s heart-tug. You can curate these organizations and show them several from which they can choose. You probably have favorite organizations, but you could check others out on Guidestar.org.

Keep checking the website as I will post some specific issues.