Parents want to be kept away from the news, but children also face the reality of earthquakes. Underlining that children should be told about the earthquake in accordance with their age and development, experts state that trying to raise awareness of earthquakes in children between the ages of 2-7, whose logical thinking skills have not yet developed, may cause anxiety disorders in them. Specialist Clinical Psychologist Eda Ergür, who said that the earthquake can be explained to children with games, said, “Children should be told and made to feel safe by their parents first. Parents should pay attention to their comments when children are with them, and children should be given the opportunity to express their feelings. “Normal life routines should be maintained and constructive options should be offered by being told they can send help if they want,” he said.
Üsküdar University NPİSTANBUL Hospital Specialist Clinical Psychologist Eda Ergür shared the methods of explaining the earthquake to children and her recommendations to prevent children from worrying about earthquake news.
Disclosure should be made according to age and development.
Specialist Clinical Psychologist Eda Ergür, who stated that everyone is faced with the reality of earthquake even though children are wanted to be kept away, said, “It is the responsibility of adults to take an approach by acting in accordance with the cognitive development of children. For this reason, it would be appropriate to share the situation with children in accordance with their age and development. While the news channels are open at home and the whole family is anxiously sharing the information they have learned with their relatives, it is not very possible to keep our children out of this situation.”
Anxiety disorder may occur in the 2-7 age group
Reminding that the logical thinking skills of children between the ages of 2-7 are not yet developed, Specialist Clinical Psychologist Eda Ergür said, “For this reason, if the child in this age group has not been exposed, if he is not aware of the situation, giving detailed information about the earthquake and what happened and trying to raise awareness will gain the knowledge he has acquired. This age group, who will not be able to process and make sense of it yet, may cause anxiety disorders in our children.
Earthquake can be explained with toys
Specialist Clinical Psychologist Eda Ergür said that a child who has been exposed to an earthquake or earthquake footage, video or news needs to make sense of this situation and continued as follows:
“In this case, it would be useful to explain this concept concretely to children whose abstract reasoning is not sufficient. Play is the fastest and most effective way to reach children; For this reason, simply explaining the occurrence and effects of the earthquake to the child using toys and blocks such as Lego helps the child to understand the situation. In a simple language, by exemplifying the natural events in our world, it can be explained that earthquakes are tremors, which are a natural occurrence on earth, like the sunrise, lightning, snow and rain. As in each of us, the unknown causes anxiety for our children, the more we make the situation known, the safer the children will feel.”
They should be given the opportunity to express their feelings.
Emphasizing that children, who are experiencing anxiety and fear in the face of what they hear and witness, should be given the opportunity to experience their emotions, Ergür said, “It is important to understand our children’s emotions and to realize that what they feel is normal, and to share our own emotions. Sharing that we are sorry for what happened will comfort our child instead of worrying them. As parents, it will be comforting and calming for children to share that we are there for them, that we can protect them, the measures we take to be safe, that our home is solid and durable, and that we are safe.”
Children can be offered constructive choices
Even though we want to protect our children from every negative situation, Ergür stated that it is impossible and far from realistic to keep our children, especially in the older age group, completely unaware of such a great disaster. In this way, our children will be able to learn healthy ways to cope with pain as well as being aware of the existence of pain. “We are sorry for the people who have been hurt, we can pray for them and send help, we can offer constructive options within our means and implement them together,” he said.
Parents should be careful with their comments
Emphasizing that the most basic need of our children is to feel safe, Specialist Clinical Psychologist Eda Ergür said, “For this reason, it is much more important for parents or caregivers, who are next to children and need to regulate their own emotions, to pay attention to their own reactions. Being able to regulate our own emotions as adults is of great importance for both our children and ourselves. After this difficult disaster we have experienced, our hearts beat in this region, but it would be appropriate to limit the news when we are with our children and prevent our children from being exposed to these news. In addition, we need to pay attention to our comments about what is happening around our children and how we reflect our own concerns.”
Their routines should be maintained, they should be made to feel safe.
Emphasizing that we should try to protect the routines of children in all age groups as much as possible, Specialist Clinical Psychologist Eda Ergür said, “The fact that a child who does not feel safe exhibits crying and unexpected irritability in his routines such as eating, sleeping and playing, when he needs to be separated from his parents, should be interpreted as signals that remind families to be careful. . In order to support our children’s basic need for a sense of security, we parents should strive to provide reassuring support while maintaining our composure. If we can make our children feel safe by enveloping them with our love while allowing them to face the level of difficulty they can bear, we may have improved their coping skills and supported them to be ready for life. Getting professional support in cases that cannot be managed properly will enable us to quickly prevent bigger problems that may occur.”
Source: (BYZHA) – Beyaz News Agency
