- Questions about children, violence and War
1. How to explain the concept of violence to children?
2. What should parents do if they think their children have a tendency towards aggression and violence?
3. What should be told to children about war?
4.How should war images on television and newspapers be explained to children?
5.Parents should Should they be allowed to watch such news?
6. What changes are observed in the psychology of the child affected by this news? How to understand? What needs to be done?
7. What can be done to make the child feel safe?
- How to explain the concept of violence to children?
When explaining such concepts, it is in the context of the situations children encounter. It is appropriate to make explanations appropriate to the child's age. The baby's first violent behavior is usually towards people close to him. It may bite the mother, hit someone nearby, etc. Starting from these first behaviors, it is necessary to give messages to the child that this behavior is not appropriate.
For example; when the baby bites the mother, the mother should not allow this and say "no" It should state that it is a wrong behavior. Then, when the child experiences such situations with his friends, it should be explained clearly, in terms appropriate to the child's age, that it is wrong to use violence against others.
It is difficult for children to understand concepts in pre-adolescent ages, so through concrete examples, it should be explained to the child which behavior is right and which is right. It is necessary to explain that it is wrong in age-appropriate terms.
Aggression and violent tendencies can occur in every child. As children grow up, they develop the skills to control this tendency with the education they receive from their families. Parents should show by example which method they will use to cope with the child's feelings of anger or frustration. For children, behavior is more important than what is said. For this reason, if parents do not show violent behavior towards each other and their children, and their own violent behavior is If they control their knowledge, the child will take this behavior as an example and learn to control himself. The influence of the family on children's behavior is always stronger than other influences.
When families talk about war, they should explain the pain and negativities that war brings to people, and talk about wars as a phenomenon that brings pain, death and poverty to all warring parties, without taking sides. There is no winner in war. Even just wars cannot be considered the most appropriate methods for solving problems. It is a more correct attitude to develop a worldview against war in children, to combine the sufferings it brings to people instead of integrating war with the concept of heroism and heroism, and to ensure that the concept of war is formed in the child's mind in this way. When explaining images related to war, the wrongness and evil of war should be explained. It can be discussed how appropriate Atatürk's words "Peace at home, peace in the world"are and the necessity of a peaceful problem-solving approach.
Of course, it is not necessary to show war-related images specifically, but Children will inevitably encounter such images in newspapers and on television. When such images appear, it would not be appropriate to prohibit them, especially to the child, because it would cause the child to care more about this issue and increase his/her concerns. What to do is to help the child digest this information when he encounters such images, that is, to talk to him about it, share his ideas, and support the child in creating a worldview against war and violence.
Normally, children are not affected by such news. If the child is already extremely anxious, has fears, and creates fear in every situation he sees around him, then war news, like all the news he watches, creates anxiety and worry in such children. It can be understood that the child is psychologically affected by this issue by constantly talking about this issue, talking about his fears that such situations may happen to him, and showing symptoms such as sleep disturbance, fear of going to school and being afraid of leaving the family. These children may be prone to developing anxiety disorders in the future and may have a psychiatric aid It would be appropriate to take treatment.
It is necessary to reassure the child in an age-appropriate manner that such situations will not happen to him/her. It would be useful to talk to slightly older children about what can be done to end the war, aiming to help them develop a cognitive approach to the issue rather than an emotional one, thus balancing the emotional load on the issue.
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