Burdening of the Young

Let's all just step back and take a breather.
Our kids are listening to our words and how WE are handling things.  They are bringing their stresses with them to school.  They are worrying.
These are grown up problems people.
It is one thing to inform your kids but to BURDEN them is not necessary.
Things have NOT happened yet.  It is our job to reassure them we are here to keep them safe, love them, educate them, empower them.
Stress that your family is safe.
Be together
Carefully consider your child's maturity and temperament
Consider your own reactions. Your kids will look to the way you handle the news to determine their own approach. If you stay calm and rational, they will, too.

I work in a therapeutic school and today was rough.  I was there with reassurance for my students that these ARE grown up problems and I hear their voice but humans are resilient and often in the most bleakest of times we have shown time and time again that we can always find hope and fight for what is right.

ITS OKAY people to not have an opinion around your kids/students about this election so as to help quell their fears.  And as an educator I absolutely have NO opinion to share with my students.
You can reassure your kids that life will go on and the world is NOT ending.
I feel PRETTY STRONGLY that we need to make sure this message gets in.
With all the fear and anxiety running wild the last few months, we need to proactively reassure them that they are safe and they are loved.

Kids feel it, and their anxiety is real, said Lori Edelson, owner and director of the Birmingham Maple Clinic, who also is a therapist.

"The most damaging situations are when the parents communicate their own anxiety and fear, that’s when the child’s own anxiety and fear are amplified even more," she said. "But if mom and dad look like they get what’s going on — and it’s not a big deal, like a kid in school throwing a temper tantrum — it doesn’t have the same traumatic effect. ... We have to remember as parents that even if it makes us anxious and scared we have to communicate calm.

http://neatoday.org/2016/11/09/talking-to-students-about-election/
“I’m also going to tell them that nothing is going to change overnight,” Ellis says. “I want them to feel safe. As educators, that’s what we do in difficult times.”

In the end, we all know what a good sport looks like.  We all have to be good sports, and we can’t win all the time. That’s what a democracy is really all about. It’s the majority rules. There’s always a minority. There’s always a loser.



http://wtop.com/parenting/2016/11/wondering-tell-kids-election/