Kids who are aware of the deaths of other young children may need extra parental support and understanding, according to a clinical child psychologist.
David Coleman has urged parents and guardians to “empathise with them” following the weekend deaths of four young people – jockey Jack de Bromhead, 13, on Saturday, and Lisa Cash, 18, and her eight-year-old twin siblings Christy and Chelsea Cawley on Sunday.
Well-known psychologist David said: “The first thing for a lot of parents is to establish what your child already knows and what sense have they made of what they have already heard.
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“That then allows parents to know what gaps they need to fill to help them to process whatever it is that they are experiencing or feelings based on what they have heard.
“Each child’s reaction to something like this is going to be different.
“When something is as poignant and touching as this, there’s definitely a real sense that the nation has an awareness of this.
“Maybe there needs to be a public outpouring of grief. We have had two-and-a-half years of grieving and loss from Covid.”
He added: “Emotional support for kids is about checking in, not necessarily trying to reassure them that this can’t happen to them.
“But let them know that their feelings make sense in the context of what they understand.
“The nature of this can add to the shock and fear for some children – and that is what you are exploring.
“Once you know what they understand already, you know the gaps and how to support them.
“If your child seems off-form, and there’s no reason for it, it may well be that they are trying to get their head around what happened. Empathise with them.”
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