What To Say When Your Child's Worried About School Safety
Recently in the news in our community there have been things that have caused worry, we want to make sure families have resources around how to talk to your child about these worries.
RESPONDING TO CHILDREN WHO WANT TO TALK ABOUT SCHOOL SAFETY SITUATIONS
If a child says they feel nervous or worried about school safety and have either correct or incorrect information about it:
Response should be to:
- Validate their feelings
“That sounds like Friday was scary for you and you still feel worried about it today”
“Have you talked about it with your family? Who do you talk about this with in your family- Mom, Dad, grandparent, etc)”
“What did they say about it?”
“Did it make you feel less fearful?”
- Talk about circle of control
“We can’t control a lot of what happens around us and this situation is one of those times”
“We can only control how we respond”
“At school, when there is an emergency the adults have plans so they know what to do to solve the problem”
“Everyone needs to do what the adults tell us. That is what we can control”
- Don’t talk about the content of the bomb threat- this is how misinformation gets spread
“We all want to know what happened, but we wont know for a while. The adults in charge are gathering all of the information.”
“You might hear some people say things that are really scary and we just need to wait. We need to wait until the people in charge share what they know.”
“When people get afraid, they don’t always hear the details correctly”
“It is best not to talk about what you heard, because it might not be true”
- McClelland has safety plans as well
“We have safety plans if an emergency happens at McClelland too which is why we practice evacuation drills”
“There is a team of people who help Mrs. Jerr if something happens so that she doesn’t have to respond to it alone.”
- Validate their courage in talking with a trusted adult
“I am so glad you are talking about how you feel. It is always better to get those feelings out”
“The best thing to do is what you are doing- going to school and talking with trusted adults if you feel upset and scared.”
If you have any questions about school safety, please reach out to Mrs. Jerr at 332-2180.