TALKING TO CHILDREN RESOURCES
DOCUMENTS
- Answering Children’s Questions on Violence (Doc)
- What Happened to MY World?: Helping Children Cope with Natural Disaster and Catastrophe (PDF)
- Helping Children Rebound: Strategies for Preschool Teachers after the 2005 Hurricanes (PDF)
- Helping Children Rebound: Strategies for Infant & Toddler Teachers after the 2005 Hurricanes (PDF)
- What Happened to the World: Helping Children Cope in Turbulent Times (PDF)
- What Happened to the World: Helping Children Cope in Turbulent Times(Spanish Version PDF)
- What Happened to the World: Helping Children Cope in Turbulent Times (Facilitators Guide PDF)
GENERAL TOPICS
Websites:
- The American Psychiatric Association has a section on trauma, violence, and practical things that people can do to deal with reactions to trauma.
- The Child Advocate Disaster Page with information about helping children cope with crisis.
- Prepare-Respond-Recover is about recognizing stress in children.
Books and Pamphlets:
- Helping Children Cope with Stress, Avis Brenner. Lexington: Heath & Co, 1984
- Listening to Children: Healing Children’s Fears, Patty Wipfler. Parents Leadership Institute, 1990.
ON GRIEF AND LOSS
Websites:
- The International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, Inc. (ICISF) is a non-profit, open membership foundation dedicated to the prevention and mitigation of disabling stress and provides resources for family recovery from terror, grief, and trauma.
- The Dougy Center for Grieving Children and Families provides educational materials services and resources for grieving children and families.
Books:
- American Booksellers Association - recommended reading on coping with tragedy
- Association for Library Service to Children – American Library Association recommended reading on coping with tragedy
- Children’s Book Council recommended reading on coping with tragedy
- Young Adult Library Services Association – American Library Association
ON INTERNATIONAL ISSUES AND RELIEF
Websites:
- Red Cross - International relief organization with comprehensive support resources; a site to get help and information and make donations or learn about volunteering.
- Heifer International - An organization that works with low-income populations around the world on issues of hunger.
- Mercy Corps - An international relief and development organization whose Web site provides information on programs all over the world and materials on 9/11.
Books:
- Children and Trauma: A Parent Guide to Helping Children Heal, Cynthia Monahon. Lexington Books, 1995.
- Peace, War, and Nuclear Threat, Nancy Carlsson-Page and Diane Levin. Washington, DC: NAEYC, 1990.
ON TOLERANCE: RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY
Websites:
- The Anti-Defamation League is one of the nation’s foremost civil rights/human relations agencies fighting anti-Semitism, prejudice, and bigotry. Its multi-media campaign A World of Difference works to combat prejudice, promote democratic ideals, and strengthen pluralism.
- Teaching Tolerance is a national education project dedicated to helping teachers foster equity, respect, and understanding in the classroom and beyond.
- American Arab Anti-Discrimination Organization is an educational information about Arab culture and society as well as crisis resources for all parents and teachers.
- Children’s site sponsored by the Peace Corps is a good resource for information about cultures around the world and how to make a difference.
- The Simon Wiesenthal Center is an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to preserving the memory of the Holocaust by fostering tolerance and understanding through community involvement, educational outreach, and social action. The Center confronts important contemporary issues including racism, anti-Semitism, terrorism, and genocide.
ON WAR AND TERRORISM
Websites:
- The United Nations offers a curriculum on peace education.
- The NYU Child Study Center tackles tough questions about how to talk to children about the war with Iraq.
- DeploymentLink provides children k-12 lots of information to help them when their parents are deployed.
- Child-development specialist Judy Myers-Walls explains how to talk with children about terrorism. Offers age-appropriate responses for parents.
- This link discusses books that will help children of military families. My Daddy is a Guardsman…. My Daddy is a Soldier…. My Mommy is a Guardsman….
- List of website articles about children and deployment.
- About our kids provides parents with information about how to answer tough questions their children may ask about war.
- The Child and adolescent action center provides information on how to explain and help children understand war and terrorism.
- This Family Education article provides information from Alvin Poussaint, M.D. and Susan Linn, Ed.D. Talking with Kids about War: Pointers for Parents
- Uniting Through Reading (UTR), an underway quality of life program for military families, helps keep parents and children connected while separated during long deployments, through the medium of reading aloud on videotape
- The National Association of School Psychologists provides tips for parents and teachers for helping children cope with war and the distress it causes.
- Discusses how toys affect play in children. Violent Toys, Nonviolent Toys: What's the Difference?
- PBS has an excellent site, PBS Parents, that has a new section on helping children cope with impending war.
- The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP ) developed “Facts for Families” to provide concise and up-to-date information on issues that affect children, teenagers, and their families.
- Talking With Kids About Tough Issues, a national initiative by Children Now and the Kaiser Family Foundation to encourage parents to talk with their children earlier and more often about difficult issues.
- Child Trauma offers tips for teachers and schools to help children cope with tragic events.
ON SEPTEMBER 11
Websites:
- The Families and Work Institute developed this excellent site to help parents and educators continue to help children understand and cope with September 11 and its aftermath. Includes advice on the anniversary and curriculum ideas for teachers.
- The Mercy Corps site includes a document prepared for the September 11 anniversary: How Are We Now? Promoting Continued Healing of Our Children
Books and Pamphlets:
Available from the Anti-Defamation League:
Anti-Defamation League
823 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 100017
www.adl.org
- Early Childhood Resources, Miller Early Childhood Initiative of A World of Difference Institute Bias Free Foundations
- Early Childhood Activities for Families, Miller Early Childhood Initiative of A World of Difference Institute Bias Free Foundations
- Close the Book on Hate: 101 Ways to Combat Prejudice, NY: ADL and Barnes & Noble, 2000. (available from the ADL and Barnes & Noble)
- What to Tell Your Child About Prejudice and Discrimination. (pamphlet)
- Hate Hurts: How Children Learn and Unlearn Prejudice, ADL, Caryl Stern-LaRosa, and Ellen Hofheimer Bettmann. NY: Scholastic, 2000.
- Teaching Values Reaching Kids, Linda Schwartz. Creative Teaching Press, 1997.
- Caring and Capable Kids, Linda Williams. Innerchoice Publishing, 1996.
- Teaching Your Child to Resist Bias, brochure from NAEYC. (available at 800-424-2460 or www.naeyc.org)
- Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children, Louise Derman Sparks, Washington, DC. NAEYC, 1991.
- Talking with Your Child About a Troubled World, Lynne Dumas, NY: Fawcett, 1992.