My seven-year-old niece is visiting this week, and this morning, while were were munching our cereal, I flipped on Morning Edition. After a few seconds, I lunged for the dial — it was a report about the mass shootings Monday at Virginia Tech. It turned out my sister had already told her about the "sick man" who had killed so many people, but it made me wonder, how do you talk to kids about this kind of event, especially when it happens in their world, at school? We'll talk to Amy Dickinson about it today (it is Thursday), as well as a child psychiatrist... so if you have questions about how to talk about this horrifying event with kids of any age, post them here.
The First thing to say to children is, "This is rare
It has never happened on this scale before.
It is not likely to happen here."
Are you kidding!? "Ask Amy" is very insightful when it comes to matters like "emotional affairs"...(She says it's wrong in case you're wondering) It's bad enough to provide Amy the forum to spew her banal platitudes in general....but to turn to her in the face of a national tragedy!?
As a Korean American Male, I wondered how this incident would affect young asian american boys in America? My Asian friend's parents immediately called them, to check up on them, not because that there would be a shooting, but because there was a fear of backlash.


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