The citizens of Oklahoma have suffered a heartbreak that will not soon be overcome. We are extending our thoughts and sympathies to all who have been impacted. We are asking why. We are hugging our own children a little tighter. We are coming together and offering what resources we can to help families and caregivers who are struggling to help children cope with natural disaster.
What Happened to MY World?
What Happened to MY World? Helping Children Cope with Natural Disaster and Catastrophe (Click here to download PDF) is a resource for parents, teachers, and anyone working with children. What Happened to MY World was written to help adults peer into the minds of children from infancy through the teenage years, and understand their confusion, fears, grief, and struggles to understand why inexplicable accidents or the forces of nature can suddenly disrupt or destroy the world as they know it. It is to help both those who experience and survive catastrophe firsthand, as well as the children who witness from a distance and wonder what it was like or whether someday they will find themselves in similar circumstances.
What Happened to the World?
Click here to download What Happened to the World? a guide to helping children cope in turbulent times including terrorism and war. This guide was written by Jim Greenman, Senior Vice President of Education and Program Development for Bright Horizons Family Solutions, following the tragic events of September 11.
Once again, the threat of terror that could strike anyone is in the headlines. What do our children think and feel when they hear that a plane could be blown out of the sky, perhaps one that someone they know and love might be on? What do we tell children about the world that they live in?
The guide provides advice and resources to help children manage grief and fear.
Bright Horizons Director Brendamarie Contreras shares tips on how to talk to young children about the Boston Marathon bombings.
Extraordinary events like the earthquake, tsunami and continued concerns about radiation exposure in Japan test us all as citizens and human beings sharing a planet. They test us as parents, both as guardians of our children trying to keep them emotionally safe, and as our children’s teachers trying to raise them to become enlightened and empathetic adults.
Children grow into the kind of people they will become at least in part by how we guide them though their questions, concerns, and fears, and whether we use the teachable moments thrust upon us to provide them with support, care, and guidance.
Additional Resources
What Happened to MY World? Helping Children Cope with Natural Disaster and Catastrophe (PDF) (Click here to download PDF) is a resource for parents, teachers, and anyone working with children. What Happened to MY World was written to help adults peer into the minds of children from infancy through the teenage years, and understand their confusion, fears, grief, and struggles to understand why inexplicable accidents or the forces of nature can suddenly disrupt or destroy the world as they know it. It is to help both those who experience and survive catastrophe firsthand, as well as the children who witness from a distance and wonder what it was like or whether someday they will find themselves in similar circumstances.