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Home › Articles › You and Your Children › Protecting the Innocents

Protecting the Innocents

How to Talk to Your Kids About Disaster

By Laurie Dove

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Watch for these changes in your child's behavior:

  • Refusal to return to school and "clinging" behavior, including shadowing the mother or father around the house;
  • Persistent fears related to the catastrophe (such as fears about being permanently separated from parents);
  • Sleep disturbances such as nightmares, screaming during sleep and bedwetting persist more than several days after the event;
  • Loss of concentration and irritability;
  • Startled easily, jumpy;
  • Behavior problems, for example, misbehaving in school or at home in ways that are not typical for the child;
  • Physical complaints (stomachaches, headaches, dizziness) for which a physical cause cannot be found;
  • Withdrawal from family and friends, sadness, listlessness, decreased activity and preoccupation with the events of the disaster.

Professional advice or treatment for children affected by a disaster – especially those who have witnessed destruction, injury or death – can help prevent or minimize PTSD. Parents who are concerned about their children can ask their pediatrician or family doctor to refer them to a child and adolescent psychiatrist.


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