
As adults, we have difficulties dealing with the traumatic events we see every day on the news; wars, often horrific scenes of violence and devastation, and of course, the aftermath of terrorism. If we struggle to handle these images and react appropriately, imagine how much more difficult it is for our children to cope with this. Children can often be left confused, scared and misunderstanding what is happening, by either the adult’s reaction to the event (anger, fright and worry), as well as by the pictures of the event themselves that are screened live into our television screens or our computer monitors. This is the issue Rebecca J Hubbard seeks to address in her timely little book, Kindness in a Scary World: A Children’s Book about Terrorism. Hubbard seeks to give us no nonsense advice on how to explain to a child what has happened when a terrorist strikes.
Rebecca J Hubbard, specifically addresses terrorism in this particular book, Kindness in A Scary World: A Children’s Book about Terrorism, but what I did like about this was the advice she gives is equally applicable to many of the events occurring around the world on a daily basis, from natural disasters, to war/refugees, right through to the witnessing of an act of terrorism on live television. The book is not long and would be suitable to sit down and read to your child, regardless of age. Perhaps, most importantly, it stresses the need for the parents to ensure their child understands that nothing they did, or didn’t do, had anything to do with what was perpetrated. Children can often blame themselves for bad things they see happening around them. The book also provides a guide (at the end) for parents to prepare themselves for addressing this issue with their children. All-in-all this book is a useful addition to a parent’s arsenal on how to deal with questioning children. The illustrations were a bonus and very nice, but would definitely suit the paperback version better than the kindle version I read.
