News is made for adults. There is news that children can learn a lot from, but they shouldn’t be left alone to watch the news reports.

Children can be scared
Small children should be completely shielded from strong news about for example war, violence, sexual assaults and tragic news about children. Children get more scared by violence in the news than by the violence in cartoons.

Explain the news
Children should also be given an insight into big events that everyone talks about. For example, you can watch some news reports together with your children, and explain to them what happens. Use simple words, and spare the children gruesome details.

Use enough time
Children need time to process strong impressions. Some can wake up and have nightmares several days after they’ve seen something on TV, so be extra aware of big events that children hear about and see on TV.

Let children explain
It’s important that children get to put their own words on what they watch and hear. What do they register, and what are they thinking about what’s happened? You can let them draw things they’ve seen on the news, or write little letters or poems about what they’ve seen or heard. In this way the children get to process the strong impressions in their own way.

Be clear
If your child has seen or heard something and they’re worried about it, tell them clearly what you as an adult think about what’s happened. Take care to explain what the incident from the news means for the child’s everyday life. News can create unnecessary fear of a reality that might not exist where the child lives.

Limit the amount
Children shouldn’t be “fed” with strong images and words from the news. Children won’t be able to distinguish between fresh news and reruns, and can believe that there are new accidents happening every night. It is better to turn the TV off than let children see the same images night after night.

Talk about the good news
In the middle of a disaster there is also good news that we all need to hear about, like reports of people donating money, the efforts of rescue workers, money from the government, but also what we can all do to help.

Something to think about:
The Norwegian child psychologist Magne Raundalen offers some good advice linking children’s ages and what they can handle watching when it comes to war reports on the news:

Under 4 years:
Shouldn’t be an issue. Parents can watch the news on TV after the kids are in bed.

4-7 years:
Children need as good a protection against news as possible. They shouldn’t see war reports on TV. If they do see them, an explanation from the parents is compulsory.

7-10 years:
Even at this age children should be protected as much as possible from the news, but in this age range total protection is also very difficult. The advice must be to “see less, talk more”. It’s even more necessary to explain to the children what war is, and if they do see war reports it needs to be together with adults who then talk about it with them.