It’s been a tough year filled with disruptions for many of the children in the Brocklehurst neighbourhood of Kamloops.
Back in September, it was the fire at Parkcrest Elementary School that displaced kids, then COVID-19 closed the schools, and then it was the crash of the Snowbirds plane last Sunday.
SD73’s Director of Instruction for Elementary Learning Vessy Mochikas says teachers are ready to help parents talk to their children, if needed.
“The first thing we would recommend parents do is really listen, which means paying attention to any change in behaviour, helping your kids feel better, by having an honest conversations,” she said. “And then maybe as a family talk about positive coping things, maybe taking family walks or spending more time together.”
Mochikas adds children process the news differently than adults, and recommends that parents not let their kids watch disturbing media reports.
“That exposure to those images, adults process those much differently that kids, especially young children,” she said.
“We would recommend that they really protect their children from watching disturbing media reports because they can’t always differentiate if that is happening live, or if its happening again, and then they may become more anxious.”
Mochikas says to let your children know as well that it is okay to be sad, and says its healthy for people to talk about their feelings.
“I don’t think we would encourage people to go into great detail. Keeping it general that a really sad event happened, explaining that there was a problem with the plane, and unfortunately the plane did crash and someone died, I think is fair,” she added.
“It’s honest, and those children that are having conversations with adults, that’s wonderful because then we know how they are feeling.”
Kamloops Councillor, Bill Sarai, who lives in Brocklehurst says its been a tough few months for that part of the city, but he notes that he’s proud of the city’s resilience.
“We’re strong and we’re going to get through this together,” he said.