A few weeks ago over 88,000 residents were forced to flee their homes as an unforgiving wildfire gripped the community.
For adults a traumatic event, like the wildfire and mass evacuation is terrifying. But what about the children who also experienced this?
Children do not have the ability to communicate worries or concerns through words. They don’t have the vocabulary.
Teens have the vocabulary, however, they may lack the maturity and life experience to properly identify the feelings that they are having.
Christina Rinaldi, a Psychology Professor at the University of Alberta suggests that parents or guardians should be answering their children’s questions as honestly and realistically as possible.
A child not talking about an event does not mean that the event is forgotten or has no importance. Children and teens are more likely to express their reactions through their actions rather than words.
“It is important to be observant of what they might be going through, like their need to be close, to ask questions, to want to know where others are and what is going to happen,” Said Rinaldi.
Potential reactions to the traumatic experience:
- Irritability, agitation, confusion
- Quietness, less communicative
- Withdrawn, denial, sadness
- Feelings of helplessness or anger
- Sleep disturbance, nightmares
- More prone to accidents/clumsiness
- Increased anxiety, intense fear
- Verbal outbursts
- Changes in appetite
- Poor concentration
- Distress due to work or travel related
- Return/increase of bed-wetting or other regressive behavior
- Testing house rules-dress, curfew, chores
These reactions are usually temporary but can be uncomfortable, impacting concentration, productivity and even sleep patterns.
Adults should let the children in their care know that it is healthy to express emotions and to let them out.
What you can do to help:
- Listen
- Encourage your child to talk
- Say it is OK to be afraid
- Let them know that you were afraid too
- Tell your child about your plans each day
- Be attentive to media coverage adding to you and your child’s anxiety/stress level
- As long as it can be done safely, let your child help clean up
“When possible, families should be spending time together and to try to establish a routine, this is tough in the early days of displacement, but striving for some routine activities may be comforting for the child,” Rinaldi said.
In the coming weeks as residents will be able to return to their homes, it is important to help your child externalize their feelings. Keeping reactions inside will only serve to have them go into hiding and come back when least expected.
It is also extremely important that adults take care of themselves, your own emotional health is vital in taking care of your children’s.
Some final tips for you:
- If you wake up in the middle of the night have a drink of water, read a little if you can’t get back to sleep and remember to take some deep breaths.
- If you have a flashback, take some deep breaths, breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth to the count of ten and take notice of your current environment.
- Get rest, keep a normal schedule and eat properly.
- Try to exercise where possible, drink lots of water and avoid alcohol.
- Connect with and get support from the people and resources that make a difference in your life.
