For children, the Dec. 14 school shooting that claimed the lives of 26 people in Connecticut may cause fear and raise questions. An expert from Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital said it’s important for parents to not just “talk with” their children but also “listen to” their specific concerns.
Dr. Lynn Taylor, director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital, said parents should respond to the specific questions that children have – but stop short of burdening them with their own fears, anger and other types of emotional response.
Taylor said younger children will likely ask more concrete questions centering on their own safety, while adolescents may raise existential questions – for example, about why such tragedies happen in the first place.
To learn more from Taylor, see this video.