AIBU to want Year 3 given discussion after watching Newsround?

[jesst81]

My 7-year-old daughter (Year 3) is really struggling with anxiety at the moment and I’m wondering if I’m being unreasonable here.
Her grandfather passed away about five weeks ago, which I’m sure is playing a part. We’ve been doing a lot of talking at home about feelings and grief, and generally she’s quite a sensitive child. She also loves learning about the world and is very curious.
Recently the school have been showing Newsround to the class during the day. I understand that it’s aimed at children and that the school say it’s appropriate from age 6+, but lately it has been covering things like the war in the Middle East and the UK’s involvement. My daughter seems to find this really worrying.
The issue for me isn’t necessarily that they watch it — it’s that there doesn’t seem to be much context or discussion afterwards. From what I understand, the children watch it and then move straight on with the day. My daughter comes home with lots of questions and worries that she doesn’t fully understand.
Her anxiety has escalated quite a lot. A few weeks ago she might have had the occasional wobble, but now she’s having what I’d describe as anxiety attacks several times a day. It’s really distressing to see.
I have spoken to the school and her teacher, but the general response has been that it’s age-appropriate and that they try to talk about it later in the week if they have time. I completely understand teachers are busy, but I’m struggling with the idea of children this young watching news about war without the space to process it or ask questions.
Am I being unreasonable to expect a bit more explanation or discussion around it for children this age?
Just interested to hear how other schools handle this or whether anyone has been in a similar situation.

Our school shows Newsround regularly. Not sure when in the day. It's completely appropriate and aimed at their age group. From what I've seen of it recently it does a good job itself of giving context and explanation. I wouldn't expect teachers to be any more qualified to give context than the journalists presenting the news.

yeah to be honest I’m happy to have the discussion with them myself. I don’t expect the teachers to do that, really.

It’s way too much for a 6 year old. Without discussion my daughter was really impacted by the programmes talking about bombs dropping on schools. Lasted weeks. Totally inappropriate to show this and not support children to process it.

But it's a TV programme readily available to and made for kids. I suggested that she address the concerns of her child because that is what parents do. You teach kids the truth as you see it. You might be wrong but the child is reassured and later when older can make their own mind up.

My father disliked Tony Benn and the fact he was an aristocrat talking about the working class. I have taken a different view of Benn and whilst politically I completely disagree with him, I understand why he was addressing the issues he was and I admire what he did and what he said.

How are schools expected to teach pupils to be good citizens of the world if they don't teach them about the world they live in? Hiding the news away isn't the solution.

Newsround could be discussed all day by an inquisitive class. The programme itself does an excellent job of explaining what is going on in a child friendly way.

No-one is recommending “hiding the news away” but surely this is the other extreme - just showing a TV programme with zero context or follow up.

Yanbu
I teach slightly older children but I could tell Newsround bothered some of my students last week. I made some phone calls home and acknowledged that it was a learning moment for me. I've decided not to show it temporarily. I appreciate that they need to be aware of the world around them but I can support that in other ways, leaving more sensitive content for parents to share (or not) if they choose to at home.
Communication is key here and I'd welcome any parent wanting to discuss their concerns with me.

my daughter was really impacted by the programmes talking about bombs dropping on schools. Lasted weeks.

Which bombs? The current conflict hasn't been going on for weeks.

Children will hear about wars regardless of whether they see Newsround. Other children will hear adults in their family talking, or see the news at home, and talk about it at school. There may be children in the school who come from Ukraine or Syria or other warzones and have actually lived through air raids.

Better all the children hear a factual, age appropriate account of what is happening rather than have exaggerated or inaccurate playground talk as their only source of information.

Newsround is excellent at explaining things. Following up will take all day for some children to be satisfied.

And does the news need a context?

I would want ti discuss anything to do with the current war with my child myself. After watching both Andrew Marr and Krishan Guru-Murthy display their complete ignorance on Iran I absolutely would not trust anyone else to have a sensible and informative conversation with my child about current affairs. I think it’s good that children are introduced to the world this way, your child is not at risk of being caught up in a missile strike, it’s a good opportunity to talk about risk etc. and refocus on compassion for others instead of ourselves. It may help with the anxiety somewhat to be able to point out how safe she is.

I’m sorry for your loss OP but I would also say that very regular chats about feelings aren’t necessarily good for anyone. I’m not saying repress feelings but there is some evidence that a lot of efforts to tackle child mental health actually increases anxiety. I would discourage rumination and talk about all the funny things, or the good things she can think of about her grandfather. Celebrate him, don’t mourn him.

I’ve asked our school to refrain from showing newsround (or at the very least get an adult to view it first). We have family in Tehran and there are other Middle Eastern, Emirati, and Jewish children in the school. It is a difficult and triggering topic and they don’t benefit from watching it because it is therefore not discussed and also there would be wildly different views anyway.

If it’s causing issues just ask that she be sent off to read her book or something in that time.

The fact that we have adults who don’t have the resilience to cope with the world around them seems like a really good reason to make sure children get exposure to the world in an age appropriate way, rather than sheltering them until they are adults and get a shock about the atrocities going on in the world.

It can help children realise they are citizens of the world, build empathy for the plights of people they don’t see every day and maybe even shape them into being more humanitarian as adults.

That said, I think a crucial part of that strategy is discussion and contextualisation and explanation of the topics - just bunging a television show on won’t solve the problem, but I think entirely sheltering children definitely isn’t the right answer either.

I don't really know why we need to be showing little kids this, they have the whole rest of their lives to worry about war in the Middle East. I remember being absolutely terrified about the Gulf War when I was 10, even though as war's go it was very mild (for us, anyway). I am ND though, and very much over sensitive. But whilst back 'in my day' there wasn't any consideration that some children might be affected more than others, one would hope that had changed by now. Apparently not.

No one is suggesting sheltering children until they're adults, no one has made that comment on this thread, what are you reading!!

The child in question is SEVEN, a little small child. She should be full of the lightness of play and silly things

The idea that you create resilient adults by destroying that ina child and presenting them with news about trauma and death and destruction is nonsense

I remember seeing Blue Peter with Joey Deacon and hearing about the various famines around the world, it really really upset me as a child that there were difficult and upsetting circumstances, theres no 'making sense' of it at that very young age. I had so much empathy I would feel distressed and awful and vrey upset.

We spend a lot of time adulting children and this is another example of this.

That is not good for kids. We're not talking about pre teens here, she is a very small child.

I hated Newsround as a kid I found it both boring and scary. I avoided watching it.

Thankfully we never had it shoved down our throats at school. I still managed to have a total grasp on current affairs by about 15 or so. As l got older l became more and more interested. I don’t think avoiding watching Newround stunted by interest in current affairs as an adult.

What happened to the innocence of childhood? They don’t need current affairs force fed to them.. They will still become aware as they get older.

You don't foster resilience, empathy or understanding by scaring children, especially the recently beteaved. That's not how human beings work.

@jesst81 Your DD is negatively affected by Newsround. School therefore need to stop showing it to her.

Send an email to the class teacher and the head requesting that your DD not be shown the programme as it is affecting her negatively and list the specific impacts clearly and directly. If the head says no, you can escalate to the governors.

It doesn't matter if all the other children are fine, or if Newsround is good quality (it is) - the fact is this is happening now she’s having what I’d describe as anxiety attacks several times a day..

Don't waste energy trying to get school to discuss the programme, just ask them to stop showing it to your DD.

My form group used to request it when we had spare moments. We used to discuss any interesting topics that came up. It is incredibly bland though and mostly feel good stories.
This is probably more about her feeling unsettled about her grandfather dying.

Welcome to 2026!

Our school shows newsround and loads of parents complain that it causes anxiety. I can't understand why because as a parent it's your job to be their calibration on these matters. It's ok to say things aren't to be considered worrying. It's not gaslighting to provide a barometer.

It also is important that they watch this content. I teach 21 year olds and it is shocking how few have any comprehension about the world. Most don't know who kier starmer is. They couldn't tell you what any government policy was. They could perhaps tell you that some people are "annoyed by that Gaza thing". Our knowledge of the world is pretty important because it shapes our every day decisions, what careers we want, how much our food costs etc. It shapes what we believe and what we disagree with. And I think that should start at primary.

There are lots of parents who have the world view themselves of a 6 year old yet are in the position of being resposibile for raising a human, how many children are growing up in incredibly insular environments?

yes we are told they will be responsible for the next generation

The school cant do eveything it does what is can with hardly any parent support except when something happens and parents have to actually parent then the compliants start

How do you think this worked before the digital age ? Children age 6 and 7 can read and there used to be bill boards with the headlines on them amd news papers everywhere. A bright 6 year old wpuld have known what was going on and we would read news papers ourselves from yr4 or 5. Never mimd the radio mews every half hour ( the radio was on a lot in our childhoods). These were the days of the AIDS crisis, chernobyl , the miners strikes and the Ethiopian famime. Growing up in West London it was in the air we breathed.

Aplogies for typos- new phone

I think this is quite a modern view. Like a pp, I'm an 80s child. We had our tea by the telly every night, so my dad could watch the 6 o clock news.... and give a running commentary. I don't remember a time when I wasn't watching the news.

I do remember, quite vividly, becoming fixated on one murder story, when I was about 7, and becoming terrified of being next. But I never told anyone. No long term damage. Just a wider ranging knowledge of the world and vocabulary than some of my peers at that age.