School letting 8 year old watch newsround

[rhonyvsrhobh]

I think that it is important for children to know what is happening in the world - to an extent.

My 8 year old, primary 4 daughter came home today very upset and worried as she had seen on Newsround which is shown at her school that Russia have invaded Ukraine. She has asked me several times if we were going to get 'hit'. I have tried to reassure her that it won't happen (what else can I say) and not to worry. She then asked me to swear on her life that we won't be affected by it. I said I couldn't swear on her life but not to worry, it won't happen.

She is very anxious and I just don't think something so serious should have been shown to 8 year old children. I feel so sorry for them, they've had covid and now this!

AIBU to contact the school about this or am I being precious?

@Highflow

I don’t think you are being precious. My son watches newsround most days at school while they are getting their bits together… except today the school decided not to. I think that was a good call

I think it was a very poor call. Kids aren't stupid. They'll recognise that something must be very bad of the school isn't letting them see it. And having just watched it, I now know that they'll have missed the reassuring message in it too.

I don't think you are being precious at all. All children are different and cope with things differently. This is why our education system doesn't work, because it is a 'one size fits all' approach. There are many of us adults who after watching the news are feeling anxious about everything.
However, after saying all that, I do believe in trying to help our children be resilient to life and hopefully you will be able to answer some of her questions and within a day or two she'll stop feeling so anxious.

OP your best bet is to educate yourself as much as you can when it comes to the news and then you can explain it in an age appropriate way when it comes up.

Sooo precious.

YABU

Far too precious.

The simple fact is that other kids will talk about it. She will be more frightened hearing half baked stuff than she will be watching newsround where the stories are carefully curated to be age appropriate.

How is she going to grow up to be UN Secretary-General if she doesn't learn these things and understand the world.

she was going to find out eventually, what did you intend to do, enforce a information black out on a child?

Sorry you are being a bit precious. It's something children will be hearing about in the playground anyway.

My 6 year old watches newsround at school and at home and we discuss the issues raises. Why do you want your child to be ignorant of what's going on in the world.

Newsround present the news in a really age appropriate way. My seven year old has been watching it every morning in class this school year, and I think they watched it last year too. If they're going to be watching it regularly I agree with other posters that it would be helpful for you to watch it yourself and develop ways of talking to her to help her cope with the news. There are good resources on the CBBC website.

Sorry for the typos -bit tiddly.

I don't think you're being precious. I would have at least wanted a heads up as this is something i would to talk to my child about in my own time and determine the extent they need to know.

Newsround is aimed at kids and generally does a good job of explaining things. Kids will be talking about it at school anyway so it's much better to be informed about it. You can talk to your kids about it too as it is happening.

Yanbu. Our (former) school started showing newsround to dd when she was FOUR and it has given her many nightmares over the years. Is lazy teaching. 20% of children are much more “highly sensitive” than the reat and often schools donknow about this / can’t be bothered to plan for it if they do know.

When my son was around your DD's age, he heard about Swine Flu in the playground and came home terrified. I realised then that I should be teaching my kids the basics so they aren't put into the position of being shocked at school like that.
Newsround is for kids

Newsround is aimed at children and explained in simple terms

I sometimes watch it to make sense of the news it's explained very well!

The BBC happened to be on this morning (DH had an early start) so me & the DCs watched a few minutes and my almost 8 year old asking me what was going on

Explained it in simple & basic terms.
I wasn't going to dive for the remote and switch on CBeebies straight away, I wanted to know what was happening too

YABU. Newsround is made for children.

I know it may be a scary story, but rather than put your childrens' heads in the sand, I would talk with them about it.

You think all the kids won't be talking about it anyway and winding each other up about it. Better to have the grounded perspective of Newsround and teaching staff in a full and frank discussion.

I think you are being overly sensitive. My DS grew up with radio, and absolutely loves listening to certain talk shows. We discuss everything. He’s not an anxious and nervous wreck but his knowledge about the world is pretty phenomenal, and he can comfortably debate with adults. You need to have input about how these issues are discussed but I think it’s unwise to shield them completely. They need reassuring. Newsround is a brilliant programme.

www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/13865002

Advice if you're upset by the news by newsround

I wasn't very clear, it's an article made by newsround to explain to children what they can do if they are worried about the news. Thought it was very good. Also explained using children language

Newsround is usually common sense/age appropriate. Rather they get information from there than Tiktok.