*under the age of 6
Children under the age of six live in the moment. They cannot abstract ideas yet, and are unable to distinguish between events happening in their immediate personal spheres, and those in the adult world happening at a distance. Events that take place on the nightly newscast are in their living room and become part of their experience.
As adults, we can self-regulate our engagement with current events and take breaks when we feel overwhelmed. Young children, in all their innocence and wonder, cannot filter, process or understand the political events happening around them, but they do feel and absorb our emotions surrounding them.
Children do not always give us outward signs that they are listening and taking in the news played in the background or adult conversations they overhear, but they are absorbing everything around them.
There is very little that children can do to improve upon or mitigate the current situation and by exposing them to adult problems, they can feel ever more powerless.
We don’t need to ignore concerns that children express, but we can let them lead the conversation. When children ask us questions, we can answer them in a factual way, but without extra information that they didn’t ask for.
We can invite children to elaborate on what they know about the topic or what they’re concerned about, in order to better understand their level of understanding and to avoid giving more information, inadvertently adding to their worries.
Children at this age, particularly before they possess the reasoning capacity necessary to process complex subjects or events, need to feel reassured that they are safe and loved.
Our hope is that their days are filled with joy and love, and that we alone can carry the burdens of the adult world and protect the innocence of childhood.
A gentle reminder:
In order to take care of our children, we also need to take care of ourselves – which might include mindfully taking breaks from the news for yourself as well.
