How to Talk to Kids About All the Terrible Things

The news is a constant raging dumpster fire. What do we do?!

Earlier this week, I was a guest on the wonderful new A Kids Co podcast Raising Us with Elise Hu, where we talked about what parents can do to help kids cope with tough times. One key issue we discussed was how to talk to kids about current events, especially when they’re…. well, horrifically and endlessly awful. Like right now!

Here’s a brief clip:

Today I thought I’d share my key recommendations for parents on how to have these kinds of tricky — but often essential — conversations with children, because lord knows it isn’t easy. I’m going to try to keep things simple: I’ll focus on when conversations are useful and how to structure them.

When conversations are useful

It’s hard to give one-size-fits-all parenting advice on this issue because of course, every family and child is different! If you have a 2-year-old, you’re going to have verrrrrrry different conversations than if you have a 12-year-old. Personalities and temperaments matter, too. But in general, here are some situations in which it’s helpful to talk to kids about what’s going on in the world.