News Page
February 28, 1997
Parents often wonder how children react to crises and catastrophes and what the long-range effects will be on their attitudes, feelings and behavior. This winter has already brought hardship to a number of Minnesota families. With the risk of spring floods, there may be an even greater need to prepare for dealing with children and crises.
Several studies have been made of the effects on children of natural disasters like floods and tornadoes, according to Ron Pitzer, a family sociologist with the University of Minnesota's Extension Service. The studies revealed that some parents felt it best not to talk to their children about the disaster for fear it would only upset them more. Some felt it was best to get the children back into their usual activities as quickly as possible, without acknowledging that a disaster had occurred. Because of their own anxieties, some parents found it difficult or impossible to tolerate discussion with their children.
This unwillingness or inability to discuss the distressing event may have an effect opposite to what the parent intended, according to Pitzer. Adult evasion and concealment may shake children's trust and increase their apprehensions and anxieties. When children are not helped to bring their fears, fantasies and confusions out into the open, they may be expressed in troubled behavior--"bad" dreams and nightmares, anxieties about situations incidental to the disaster, "clinging" behavior, requests to sleep near the parents, and regressive behavior such as thumb- sucking and bed-wetting.
The actual crisis event, though potentially frightening, probably is not the most important factor in the child's emotional adjustment, according to Pitzer. At the moment of crisis, children turn to their parents for cues on how to behave and how to feel. If adults avoid feeling needless alarm and irrational panic, children pick up this cue. Parents should not become so involved in the "instrumental" tasks (clean up, etc.) that they do not adequately perform the "integrative" tasks of providing support, comfort and reassurance to their children.
Researchers who have studied the reactions of children to disasters such as floods recommend that parents, teachers or other helpers give children an opportunity to talk out such experiences in their own way. Ideally, discussion of a child's worries should occur when the child brings them up and wants to talk about them, not at a time the parent selects. "Provide simple explanations appropriate to the child's age and ability to understand," says Pitzer.
The results of disaster studies suggest that children can be helped most by providing them with an opportunity to talk out such experiences in their own way, by giving the support and security they need and by being understanding if they slip back a step in moments of crisis.
The Minnesota Extension Service Distribution Center offers a video/guidebook package, Talking with Children after a Natural Disaster, (item EP-6451-NR2) (click here for more information), which includes a short descriptiion of stress-related behaviors and direct methods of helping children cope. Topics include taking time to talk to your kids, accepting their feelings, and letting children help. The video/guide is available to rent for $10. Call the MES Distribution Center at (800) 876-8636 or (612) 624-4900 to order. Please refer to the item number when ordering.
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Source: Ron Pitzer, (612) 625-8169
Editor: Jennie Y. Rominger, EDS, (612)
625-6294, jrominger@extension.umn.edu