Young minds can take on a lot more of what’s going on around them than we often give them credit for. Children pick up on stress, internalise the things they might have seen or heard on the news and find it hard to process. This can lead to feelings of anxiety, overwhelm and exhaustion.
The last two years of life in a pandemic have been hard on all of us. When we add in natural disasters like floods and world conflicts, it can be too much for children to process on their own.
Here are some helpful tips for supporting your child:
- Limit exposure to news,
- Actively listen – provide validation around their worries or concerns,
- Help them feel protected – provide reassurance around safety and help put events into context for them,
- Model appropriate responses by remaining calm and reassuring.
At Allowah, we’ve sourced a range of resources to help parents and carers support children who may be feeling anxiety – either from experiencing disasters first-hand or from processing events around them.
- Managing anxiety in children following disasters | Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network (nsw.gov.au)
- Strategies to support anxious children (beyondblue.org.au)
- How parents and caregivers can prepare for natural disaster – Emerging Minds
- Community trauma: parents’ short term expectations – Emerging Minds
- Community trauma: parents’ long term expectations – Emerging Minds
- Helping Children Cope With Trauma (childmind.org)
- Supporting-children-after-natural-disasters-and-crisis.pdf (interrelate.org.au)
It’s also important for parents and carers to look after themselves, so that they have the capacity to support their kids. Allowah holds a weekly parenting support group called MyTime – for parents of kids with complex medical needs and disabilities. It’s a great way to take a break and spend some me-time with parents who ‘get it’. For more information visit MyTime at Allowah – Tuesday Mornings
