Natural disasters, family changes such as divorce, death, serious injury, or community violence can be traumatic for both children and adults. Everyone needs time to process these traumatic events. Children often experience disasters differently than adults and they need to have developmentally appropriate explanations of them.
Children can experience the effects of disasters months and years after the events. Some will express the effects outwardly through behaviors. Others will focus internally on their own thoughts and emotions. Keep in mind that neither response is preferable to the other, and both can have negative effects on a child’s development.
Parents and other trusted adults need to be prepared to address questions and responses to the disaster. It is okay to struggle to figure out what to say when a disaster occurs. Finding the appropriate words when children are not coping well is also challenging. Here are some things you can do to help a child’s sense of well-being from Dr. Wiles and Dr. Kiss of K-State Research and Extension:
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