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When the World is a Dangerous Place: Helping Children Deal with Violence

by Diane E. Levin
July/August 2003
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Article Link: http://www.exchangepress.com/article/when-the-world-is-a-dangerous-place-helping-children-deal-with-violence/5015244/

The Realities of Working With Children in Today's World

Children are growing up in a world that is saturated with violent and scary world events. Despite adults' efforts to protect children from violence in the news, I have been hearing accounts from teachers and parents around the world of how news violence - about such topics as robberies, shootings, terrorism, and war - is entering young children's lives and affecting what they say and do.

News violence comes up when we do not expect it. For instance, just before the war against Iraq began, the mother of a 41_2 year old told me that she flipped on television to watch the Today Show as she often did, just as it was airing a demonstration of the Unites States' newest, biggest-ever conventional bomb. The child, who had been happily playing, immediately glued his eyes to the explosion on the screen. As his mother quickly turned the television off, the child asked what it was. Feeling uncomfortable, she replied, "We're not going to watch that. It's for grown-ups."

Even when we think we have protected children, we often find out that they have been exposed anyway through the media, adults' conversations, and experiences with siblings and ...

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