Honesty and Reassurance: How to Talk to Kids About Ukraine

NEW YORK — The pandemic, mass shootings, natural disasters, terror attacks. There’s been plenty of tragedy and anxiety for parents to sort through with their kids. Add Russia’s escalating invasion of Ukraine to the list.
With events rapidly unfolding on TV and across social media, child development experts urge parents to check in with children of all ages but not to worry if those conversations are brief.

“For children under the age of 7, it might just be acknowledging that something is happening between Ukraine and Russia and ask, ‘Have you heard anything?’ Take the child’s lead,” said Janine Domingues, a clinical psychologist at the nonprofit Child Mind Institute in New York.

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