Advice for parents on how to explain Texas school massacre to kid

[KSTP-TV News, May 25, 2022] Experts urge parents to have developmentally appropriate conversations with their children about the school shooting Tuesday in Uvalde, Texas. Officials say 19 children and two teachers were killed in the attack.

“There’s a lot of anxiety and fear and worry,” said Dr. Brian Kovach, a child/adolescent licensed clinical psychologist at Allina Health. He said children will have varying degrees of emotion about the tragedy and parents should be prepared to respond.

“We don’t want to jump right into reassurance and say, ‘Hey, it’s going to be OK.’ We need to be able to identify and help them make sense of what they’re feeling, that it’s valid and real,” Kovach said. He said allowing kids to express their emotions can help them process difficult situations.