The recent events in our country make us all deeply saddened. During this period, your children may also be affected by television, the internet, your reactions, the chaos and sad situation around them, and they may wonder and try to understand what is happening. Accordingly, they may ask you questions about what is happening from time to time. So what should be done in the face of such questions?
First of all, you should keep children away from television as much as possible. Exposure to violent images may affect them badly. Your children may not have encountered such bad situations before, and therefore they may not be able to decide how to behave. As a result, your child's sense of security may be damaged, your child may feel helpless and lonely, and your child may feel that he or she will be harmed. They may exhibit behaviors such as crying, shaking, bedwetting, thumb sucking, stuttering, not speaking at all, or avoiding everyone.
At such times, your children may try to understand what is going on by asking you questions. As a parent, your most important duty is to be honest. Saying "nothing" to your children in order to protect them may scare them more because it increases the situation of unknown. Don't be afraid to talk to your child about his/her feelings, don't be afraid to say I don't know, you can show your own feelings without hate speech and exaggeration
When talking about events to your children, it should not be forgotten that every child is different from each other. The parents know the child best, and only they can know how much information the child is ready for. Each child should be given as much information as he/she is ready for. You can understand how much information your child is ready for by listening to your child carefully. The most important element here is not to tell him more than the questions he asks.
You should not avoid explaining the concept of death to children. If you avoid it, the shock they experience when they encounter death later will be greater. it could be. If your child reacts like 'Am I going to die too?', focus them on the present, not the future. 'One day we will all die, but right now we are healthy. You can give answers like 'We have a long life ahead of us.'
You should not give political information to your children in a way that they will not understand. When describing terrorist incidents, negative expressions should be avoided and such bad events should be explained without going into too much detail, as they can happen from time to time in every society. You should remember that children cannot make sense of abstract things until they are approximately 11 years old. For this reason, when explaining these events to children, you need to explain them in the simplest and most concrete way possible. Abstract concepts such as politics, religion, race, and enemy are concepts that are difficult for your child to understand. Instead of explaining it this way, you can try to explain it in the simplest way, using your child's favorite movie characters and the toys he plays with.
Pay attention to your behavior around your children, try not to act overly anxious, afraid, aggressive, you should not reflect your own fears on the child. Be careful not to make extreme decisions and statements in front of your children.
It is very important for them to be in frequent contact with your child. Hugging them a lot will comfort them. Make sure to spend more time with them.
Also, playing games with your child is one of the best ways to establish relationships. Let your child set up the games, and you should especially pay attention to repetitive games. Repetitive games have healing properties, so do not hinder your children during the game.
Disrupting your child's routine is not a good method. After taking all the precautions you can take for your child, you should continue your child's normal life.
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