It is vital to talk to your child with ADHD who is
either of elementary school age or an adolescent as soon as possible about the
bombing and terror in Boston. (I will address how to talk to younger children
about the bombing of Boston tomorrow.)
Parents oftentimes think that they should wait until
their child asks questions about sad or horrific events. That is not a good
idea. Why? One never knows what the child with ADHD is thinking, and what are
his anxieties and misperceptions.
Here are a list of steps to which you may adhere or modify
in your discussions of the bombing of Boston with your child with ADHD:
1. Ask
your child what he thinks happened.
2. Confirm
and/or modify his perception of the events that occurred.
3. If
he is anxious about a similar horrific event happening to him.
a. Ask him to delineate each and every
fear/anxiety that he feels
b. Systematically
discuss each and every one of his fears
4. Explain
to him the low probability of that dreadful event happening where he lives.
Also, explain to him that the adults with whom he interacts will make sure that
he is safe.
5. Tell
the child with ADHD the positive stories of those individuals who ran into
danger protecting and helped the injured.
6. Discuss
what his family could and would do to help if they were in a similar situation,
reiterating again, however, the rarity of this type of event happening to him.
7. Talk
about what positive steps he could take to help people to whom these events
happened.
a. He
and his friends could raise money for a charity that is helping victims of the
Boston bombing, such as onefundboston.org or the Red Cross. Unfortunately, in
2013, we have to be aware of charities that are scams. Please talk to your
child about this before he or his friends send any contributions.
b. Those
children can write and send condolence letter to the Red Cross who will send
the letters to the family members who were injured in the Boston bombing.
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