Student Wellbeing News
How to talk to your kids about the daily news
We already know that 2020 will be a year we all look back on for decades to come and yet we are still only half way through. Before I commenced in my role at EDSC at the beginning of this year, I watched on with dread at the unprecedented bushfire crisis over the summer break, thinking that this would dominate the conversation at work when school started for the new year. We all have those images still in our minds from that crisis, no one will forget the image of the young child in the face mask, steering the small boat out to sea, with the red skies above in. Who knew that within a couple of months, we would all be wearing facemasks!
By March, the bushfires were all but forgotten, with the unpreceded international crisis of COVID-19 unfolding, and by May, still with COVID-19 an active threat, we saw the unprecedented protests across the USA and then, across the world, for the Black Lives Matter movement after the shocking death of George Floyd.
In a word, 2020 has been ‘unprecedented.’ At school, I have overheard lots of conversations from students about what’s going on in the world and during Positive Futures a couple of weeks back, my group had a very mature and productive discussion about the history of racism in the USA, and, a look at Australia’s own history in this regard with our First Nations People.
We as adults can sometimes get so caught up in everything that is going on around us that we forget about just how much our young people are seeing, hearing and observing; including those often graphic and disturbing images we have seen so much of so far this year. It is important for us to allow our young people time to discuss these things and how they feel, but in an age-appropriate way. We also need to reassure them of the positive stories behind these events, as the news broadcasts can too often feature only the most graphic and extreme points (the old ‘if it bleeds, it leads’ approach to news reporting.
We need to remind our young people of the good news stories and to focus on the positives; look at all the wonderful stories of strangers helping one another during COVID-19 and all the video’s that were made by people doing all sorts of things to keep people’s spirits high – did everyone see the viral videos of that dancer in London; or of all those singing on their balconies each night in Italy? Amazing! And, look at what the Black Lives Matter movement has achieved already in terms of creating immediate policy change in so many areas to bring about positive change; a step closer to equality for all.
To summarise and with some great ideas on how you can start the conversations at home and ensure your child/ren aren’t being overly exposed to some of the more graphic content, please watch this short video from ABC TV, linked here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZXIF3bF4v0
For more information about Wellbeing at the College, please visit the following link .. https://www.eastdonsc.vic.edu.au/wellbeing-engagement-positive-futures
Michael Colling
Student Wellbeing Coordinator