Taking with children about the Uvalde school shooting
By Rev. Janet Craswell
National United Methodist Church
Once again, our hearts are broken by gun violence: first a racist attack in Buffalo, New York, and then a horrific attack on an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Hopefully the littlest children will be unaware of events, but once children are in school it is much more difficult to shield them entirely from the news. There are a number of resources that might help parents and church leaders talk with children about the school shooting in an age-appropriate way:
- From the Fred Rogers Institute: https://www.fredrogersinstitute.org/files/resources/7/respondingtodifficultcurrentevents2022.pdf
- From the American Psychological Association: https://www.apa.org/topics/gun-violence-crime/shooting-aftermath
- From the National Association of School Psychologists: https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-safety-and-crisis/school-violence-resources/talking-to-children-about-violence-tips-for-parents-and-teachers
These repeated mass shooting incidents can leave us feeling powerless. In addition to using your voice and your vote, a concrete way to take action is to support the TraRon Center, a D.C. organization that works with children traumatized by gun violence at https://traroncenter.org/. National UMC has worked with the TraRon Center for several years now; they are doing important, holy, healing work.
This is a hard time to be a parent. As you take care of your children, take care of yourself too.