After a school shooting left two people dead in Wisconsin Monday, experts are once again offering guidance to parents and students with how to speak about such violent incidents.
An NBC News tally shows Monday's deadly shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin is the 4th active shooting at an American school so far this year.
"It is a day that I believe will live in our collective minds a very, very long time," Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said during a press conference Monday afternoon.
While the images from Madison may be miles away from students in Chicago, anytime a national tragedy like this occurs, parents everywhere are faced with a difficult task: how to talk to their kids about a school shooting.
"What often times I see parents doing is going in with that they're feeling and their approach rather than trying to focus on what their child is feeling," Dr. Ramon Solhkhah told NBC 5.
Solhkhah is the Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Endeavor Health, NorthShore, and Swedish Hospital.
His advice for parents locally right now is to start with support and curiosity. Allow your child to lead the conversation he said, by asking how they feel and about any questions they might have.
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Don’t' feed into anxiety or worry, minimize social media and TV use, and focus on your child's normal routine, he said.
He also said that changes to sleep habits and behaviors that persist might be signs that something serious is going on.
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So how do you know if your child is old enough for this sort of conversation?
"I think sadly given the world we live in there's no such thing as the wrong age," he said. "Even our preschoolers and kindergarteners are hearing about these things. I think that at whatever age you have to approach it with language that is appropriate for the child."
He stresses that every child is unique, and that parents should trust their gut.
Certain times of the year or celebrations, Dr. Solhkhah said, can re-trigger trauma for both kids and adults. Here in the Chicago area, some people experienced this during the Fourth of July in Highland Park, after a mass shooting took place in 2022.
"This anxiety and stress that you're feeling is going to be transient hopefully. But if it persists, that is definitely the time that treatment is available," he said.
Both the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the American Academy of Pediatrics offer additional resources for parents and caregivers.
