Our kids care too
THIS summer bushfires have devastated our country.
The images of the fires, the injured wildlife, the scorched earth and the brave men and women who have fought the fires to keep us safe have been a constant feature on our screens, our social media platforms, our radios and our newspapers.
More than any other tragedy in my lifetime, the images we have seen have been streamed from people’s phones in the affected areas in real time rather than through the lens of news crews.
The footage has been close, real and utterly personal to those who have posted it. For those of us watching it has been frightening, terrible, tragic, and unavoidable.
I remember reading an article by a child-rearing expert many years ago that recommended that children under the age of 10 should not watch the news as they would not be able to process the information, and it may be frightening and overwhelming for them.
Beyond 10 years of age and well into teen years it also recommended limiting exposure and monitoring children’s reactions to exposure to traumatic vision on the TV news.
Our television, during the school year, does not get turned on until after dinner to allow for sport and homework to be completed.
Managing or avoiding news content for our children has therefore never really been an issue.
These fires, while burning for months, only consumed our screens after school had finished for the year, which meant the same boundaries for TV weren’t in place.
In addition, with two of the three children in our house at high school this year, they have phones and access to information outside the family television, so our ability to control what they seeing is dramatically reduced.
I had not realised the extent to which the children had seen images of the fires until Christmas Day when I heard Georgia and her two male cousins, all aged nine, talking about the tragedy of the fires.
They knew people had died, homes had been lost and that millions of animals had also died. They spoke about how sad it was, and their desire to help. Each of them ultimately contributed pocket money or donated items for those who needed help.
Over summer, on suburban streets in Geelong, we have witnessed the best examples of the empathetic and kind reactions of children to the images and tragedy of the bushfires.
Facebook and local media outlets have congratulated local children such as Myra from Armstrong Creek and her friend Caleb, who together set up a lemonade stall and supported by the community raised $2600 for bushfire victims in only a couple of hours.
Young sisters Perri and Milla Helman baked biscuits, and sold them out the front of their home at Highton.
In less than an hour they raised $930.
I have seen children running a fruit stall in Newtown selling apples, bananas and oranges, and several makeshift stalls where children were selling their toys and clothes to raise money for bushfire victims. It has made my heart sing.
Last Thursday, it was predicted to be 38C in Geelong. On the way to school the radio station advised of renewed bushfire threats.
Georgia then told me that she didn’t mind if I was late to pick her up that day because if there was a fire in Eastern Park and there was smoke she wanted me to wait and not drive in the smoke as I might crash the car like in the television advertisement.
A five-minute chat followed about where grassfires occur and explaining how we were safe from grassfires and bushfires in suburban Geelong.
The conversation was a reminder to me that while she understands much, and feels much, she still can’t process all the information in the way that I can or even her older siblings can.
The stories of the generosity and kindness of our children in response to frightening images this summer are wonderful. After our chat in the car and an extra cuddle at drop-off last week they also serve as a reminder that the youngest members of our households may need some help in trying to process, and understand, the tragedy of this summer.