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Ottawa shooting raises questions for kids

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Wednesday’s shooting in Ottawa has led to a lot of questions, posts on social media, and continuous TV and radio coverage.

It is virtually impossible to keep a child from hearing about it, so, how do you explain it all to them?

Dr. Joti Samra’s first piece of advice is to listen to your kids. “We really want to let our children’s’ expressions and questions guide what we’re saying. We know that denying a bad thing happening never makes it better and the reality is our kids are going to be exposed to this.”

Samra explains you need to know what your child has heard and how he or she makes sense of it. “It becomes important at this time to reassure our children, to let them know that this is a very low base rate event, that they’re safe.”

She also recommends giving answers appropriate for their age.

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