Words like ‘Terrorism’ and ‘Violence’ send chills in our spines. As adults, we all feel the fright and pain associated with it. While adults understand what is happening and why it is happening, it is the children who are mostly at the receiving end of these brutal attacks. Many lost their lives, their friends and family and some just watched it as a piece of news that flashed across the television channels. It is quite unfathomable how these mindless violent incidents affects a young mind. It does damage them psychologically in many ways and orchestrates different ways of thinking.Talking to a child about terrorism and violence is not easy, but it is imperative. It is most important to know how they are receiving these incidents around them.
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Well, these are some of the ways that you can put to use to talk about acts of terrorism to your child.
Know How Much He Knows
Before embarking on a journey to talk to your child about ‘violence’, try to know how much he knows about it. Try to talk in simple words to so that you can understand his understanding on this subject. This will give you a brief idea about what are the implications of such events in the child’s mind.This will also help you construct a path in which you would like to talk to your child about it.
Gauge the Nature of the Child
Every child is different and so is their ways of receiving things in life. While some kids are sensitive and more aware, there are also kids who are more carefree and are less bothered about things around. It is thus important to understand the temperament of the child in order to speak to them about anything. And, if it has anything to do with some serious topics like ‘violence’, it is utmost important to understand their temperament and then bring about any topic.
Speak in his Language
The moment you decide to speak about terrorism to your child, be careful about the language that you chose to speak. Keep your language and words in accordance to the age, understanding and sensitivity of the child. Using heavy words and context will eventually confuse and burden the child more than needed. This in turn can have more ill effect on the child that we can think off.
Allow the child to express fearlessly
One of the most common hurdles that a child faces is the fear of being rebuked by parents or elders. And especially, if the child is talking about negative things like ‘violence’ and ‘terrorism’ more often the child is snubbed. Well, let not that happen. It is rather advisable to allow your child to speak his mind fearlessly. This way he will feel more secure and confident and imbibe the right set of knowledge from you.
Talk to your child Positively
Perhaps the most important thing of all is to be positive with your attitude while you are talking something as horrendous as terrorism. Talk about how your child can positively influence the world. Even though violence is negative, how it is important to be good amongst the evil. Your child will imbibe the positivity and will eventually leave back the negative effects of such incidents and see more positive things in life. In simple worlds, rather than thriving on the negativity, it is better to wrap your child around positive thoughts and present it to your child.
