As acts of terrorism unfolded on the East Coast during school hours Tuesday, parents and school districts across the Chicago area confronted a difficult task: how to explain the day’s events to children and reassure them that they were safe.
Experts advised parents to stay calm and keep the information as simple and factual as possible.
Some school systems confronted the issues head on, turning on televisions in classrooms and holding discussions with students. Others–especially those with younger children–sought to restrict the flow of information into schools, electing to let parents explain the incidents to the children at home.
Most school districts, including Chicago, were preparing for normal school hours Wednesday.
On Tuesday, however, Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan cleared the way for parents to pick up their children early. About 30 percent of the system’s 435,000 students went home before noon, schools officials estimated.
“These should be treated as excused absences,” Duncan said in a statement to schools shortly after the terrorist attacks. Still, he added, they should let parents know “our schools remain the safest places for our students and schools staff.”
Counselors on alert
Chicago’s public schools advised its 800 counselors, 250 psychologists, 375 social workers and 275 nurses already stationed in the city’s elementary schools to comfort every scared child. Another 276 or so counselors already in the system’s 92 secondary schools were put on a similar notice.
“The important thing we can do is listen to worried children and let them express their feelings,” said Lourdes Afable, director of the public schools office of crises intervention.
“We want our people to be good listeners. It’s also important to deal in facts for those who want answers, and not let their imagination run wild,” Afable said.
Letting small children form their own opinions–based upon their scant understanding of events, might be the worst thing parents could do, she added.
As students return home seeking answers, the most difficult challenge might be explaining the disaster without revealing just how panicked and uncertain most adults feel.
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“The first thing parents need to do is calm themselves down,” said Kim Dell’Angela, pediatric psychologist at Loyola Medical Center. “They have to try not to use frightening words. They have to describe what’s happening as simply and accurately as possible. And they need to communicate we do not know a lot of information.”
Age-appropriate response
Children younger than 10 are likely to view what’s happening in very concrete terms, that planes have crashed and people have been hurt, Dell’Angela said.
“Older children and adults are going to be focused on the war aspect, and they will be better able to understand the larger implications,” she said.
“If they ask, `Are we at war?’ the best answer right now is `I don’t know, but when I know that answer, I’ll tell you.'”
For younger children, parents need to consider a child’s age and temperament before exposing them to too much media coverage of the disaster.
Some kids would be terrified by images of a building collapsing and mass panic in the streets of New York.
Others might be reassured by seeing what’s really happening.
Still, at Beye Elementary in Oak Park, administrators canceled recess and are talking about the disaster in general ways. Teachers are relying on parents to convey the specifics to their children, in ways that takes into account their age and their temperament.
“We are acknowledging the disaster, but we are not allowing any news watching,” said Beye reading specialist Gloria Goon. “If parents are calling, we are telling them they can take them home.”
Teachers are also trying to keep a lid on things at Graham Elementary in Naperville but have mobilized support teams in anticipation of pupils’ growing awareness and fears as they arrive at school Wednesday. Pupils arrived Tuesday morning buzzing about news of the crash.
In one 1st-grade classroom, a teacher explained that they might hear more about the reasons for the crash, that there “might be some bad people who don’t like the United States” but tried to reassure them about their own safety.
“Kids being kids, it’s like a movie to them. They didn’t seem to be that upset,” said Sue Clendening, Graham principal. “I went on the intercom and told the kids we did know a couple planes had crashed. We told them it was far away. And we let them know they are safe here.”
Though grade school teachers chose to shelter their pupils from most updates, officials at Naperville Central High School kept a few televisions tuned to the news stations and allowed students to check in for updates as often as they needed.
“We don’t think this is something that should be kept from them,” Principal Tom Paulsen said. “At this point, what most kids are concerned about are family members who are in New York or family members who are flying today.
“But I think they are also thinking that this is a day that will impact their lives in a significant way, that things may never be the same.”