Dr Michele Elliott, founder and director of the charity Kidscape, said adults working in schools and nurseries would have to deal with the effect on children of seeing the images of last week's plane crashes in New York and Washington.
She said, 'Schools may find that children are acting out the event in the playground by pretending to be planes crashing into buildings. This is only children's way of trying to come to terms with what happened.' Children will need reassurance that their everyday lives will not be affected by the tragic events, Dr Elliott added. 'The important thing is to reassure children that they and their families are going to be all right. What children are concerned about is their own world. Reassure them that their homes, parents and families are OK.'
She also stressed the importance of talking and listening carefully to children in a manner appropriate to their age.
'The cardinal rule is never to say "don't worry about it", because children will go away and worry about it. The second rule is, don't overwhelm them with information. When a child asks what happened, say "what do you think happened?", so you know where they're coming from. For young children, tell them that it's just something on TV. So turn it off. If you want to find out more information yourself, then go into a different room and listen to the radio. When it comes to four-and five-year-olds, answer the question simply. Say, "Some bad men took an aeroplane and crashed it into a building". Try not to be upset in front of them.'
Dr Elliott said it was all right to be more specific with seven-and eight-year-olds, who would have a greater understanding of events. 'Say, "Some men took planes because they were angry with America's government and crashed them into a building".
'Wait for children to ask questions. Don't feel you have to go into all the details about why it happened, because they may not be interested.'
* Teachers' union NASUWT issued guidance to its members last week telling them to 'maintain a strictly neutral and non-political approach when dealing with potentially sensitive questions'. It said, 'Teachers should build on the helpful lead of the prime minister when he emphasised that the indiscriminate use of violence was not a feature of any religious faith.' The union called for vigilance in case of racist attacks or attempts to discredit Muslim children by blaming their faith for terrorism.
