 | Children, Youth and Family Consortium
"Talking with Children about War" is a news release from the Children,
Youth and Family Consortium at the University of Minnesota.
War is a topic of conversation nearly everywhere
you go these days. Children will hear these conversations. Talking
to children about the fears and uncertainties of what might happen
if, or when, war actually occurs is extremely difficult and extremely
important.
Very young children
may not be able to tell the difference between fictional violence
they see on TV all the time, and real
violence related to war and terrorism.
They may hear unfamiliar terms and names. They may confuse Afghanistan and
Iraq, or Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.
In
addition, young children don’t understand the politics about
war, and may be puzzled when they hear some people are against
the war and some support
it. They may also wonder about talk related to religion, and not understand
what religion has to do with war.
Older children
may understand more of the realities about war, and be very afraid
of the consequences.
They may also be more interested
in the politics,
and might
even want to get involved themselves.
At
any age, children’s
fears will be greater if they have a parent in active military duty.
This is
very difficult because the danger really is great.
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