If you're watching video or looking at photos of the aftermath of Hurricane Ike with young children, you should be prepared to answer questions about the hurricane from your children.
Judith Myers-Walls, Associate Professor of Child Development and Family Studies at Purdue University has the following helpful tip for talking with children about hurricane damage that they've seen on television. She has the folowing pointers:
- Take time to talk about the natural hazards
- Teach them some simple ways to keep themselves safe
- Although it is important to deal with children's fears, expect their emotions to go beyond that reaction.
- Provide some information to children. Answer their questions, and consider looking up answers to questions you cannot answer quickly.
- Follow the child's lead. Stop talking about the situation when the child seems satisfied.
- Monitor media exposure.
- It is good for older children to learn about current events. But the intense news coverage may not be the best way to learn. A better way to help them become aware of the hurricane events may be with print media or the Internet. Newspaper pictures are not as disturbing as video. It is also possible for adults to preview a newspaper or look at a Web site before showing it to the child. Previewing cannot usually happen with live TV.
For more information about talking with children about Hurricane Ike, click HERE.
Here's a video from the Associated Press of Ike's destruction.
For all of the latest photos of Hurricane Ike, click HERE.
Watch a Hurricane Ike photo slideshow HERE.
Watch the latest video from weather.com HERE.
Watch live and timelapsed webcams from Texas cities HERE.
For information on pregnancy and hurricanes and dealing with the stress of a hurricane, click HERE.
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