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.

and? You’re acting as though newsround is a critical part of childhood, simple answer is to cut newsround!

I’m in my 60’s and enjoyed watching Newsround in the John Craven days but I think was much more heavily edited back. The Falkland’s war was glorified as if it was a playground spat so kids weren’t left feeling afraid of escalation. Films with a WW2 theme were all about good v evil and there was no serious gore to be seen.

I definitely think it’s too much information for the majority of younger Primary age schoolchildren to understand and probably better suited to children over 10yrs old.

Why do kids need to watch TV when they’re at school?

I remember seeing BBC news the day of the 7/7 bombings on the TV when I was a kid. It was my nans house as we didn’t have a TV, it was my first experience of the news and I was fucking terrified.

I do think children need to be exposed to the news, but ideally with some discussion and support. They watch it in my daughters class and she is also 6, she’s not an anxious child but she does have a lot of questions which her teacher answers.

If the other kids are okay with it, I don’t think they should miss out because your DD is anxious, but maybe she could just leave the room? Maybe she could have a “job” so it’s discrete if that’s something that would bother her? That sounds like a decent compromise and something I bet the teacher could facilitate.

And you think watching a 10 minute news round clip (of which there will probably be only one serious news story) is enough to ruin your child’s childhood? Well, that’s going to set you up for disappointment if your threshold is that high. Not sure why you think children not being ignorant of the privilege we all benefit from, and learning about the world in an age appropriate way is ridiculous of all things.

I think anyone subjecting themselves to misery constantly is unhealthy, but we’re talking about Newsround here, not the dark web or a disturbing true crime series. I remember watching NR and as someone else pointed out, the majority of it is tech, science etc. It’s all quite soft.

Agree Jamba!

Frankly the kid is right and likely smarter than the other kids hence her reaction. She can empathise with those poor girls in the school that was hit. It is bloody dreadful.

If you don't get time to watch it in the morning before school, then I think the next step would be to request that she is allowed to sit in the library and read a book or something. I think if you approach it as a, I recognise it's fine for most kids, but my child is getting really upset, and I don't want you to have to change things for all the other kids.

Thank you all for taking the time to reply to my post. It’s been extremely helpful, and there are a few suggestions that I will definitely take on board as I think they could really help my daughter.

I just want to clarify that I’m not trying to shield her from the world at all. That really isn’t the case. My daughter actually normally enjoys watching Newsround and is very interested in learning about the world. She is just quite a sensitive child, and at the moment she seems to be struggling with hearing some of the more serious news stories.

After reading some of the replies, I’m thinking I might start watching it with her in the morning so we can talk about it together and she knows what’s coming. Hopefully that might help ease some of the anxiety.

I’m also very aware that there are probably several external factors affecting her at the moment, and this may just be the thing she is focusing on, or possibly masking what’s really bothering her. We have also privately arranged a referral for some counselling, so hopefully that will help her manage her worries better.

Anxiety isn’t something we’ve really experienced with her before. She’s always been a sensitive child, but actually having physical or emotional symptoms because something is worrying her is quite new for us.

I’d never want other children to miss out on something that’s part of the class just because my child is experiencing anxiety – that isn’t my point at all. I was simply interested to hear how other schools and parents approach this with children of a similar age.

When speaking to the teacher about it, her being excluded from watching it wasn’t something that they were encouraging

But how will they cope with the inevitable set backs and stresses of life ? Children mmed to learn to deal with fear, sadness and anxiety in a safe and supportive enviroment.

Why do they have to be 'exposed in school', its up to parents what current affairs they are informed about and parents are best placed to od that at a pace and time appropriate to their child

It wouldnt be any where near as anxiety provoking for a child to hear it first (and I wasnt suggesting it was hearing it first, Im taking your train of thought and running with it) as sitting around with your peers hearing it as formal news. Its a very different thing.

I dont know what programme you're talking about.

Agreed. Newsround was great with John Craven and gave all the context needed. Grange Hill was even better!

Not forgetting that many parts of history are upsetting and disturbing too.

WW1; WW2 and the Holocaust; the Incas; the Egyptians; Tudor beheadings; the Civil Rights era, slavery (although yes, this one comes a bit later, still very disturbing)

…We still all have to face the realities of the world and nobody questions if these are too extreme for children to know about. The most important thing is being able to ask questions and have reassurance from adults. The majority of children are able to cope with these topics.

I'm not sure I love the idea that kids are being shown media content like that. I don't object to children being aware of what's going on in the world but some of it does need to be handled sensitively and I think it's my job as a parent to decide what they see and how it's handled, not the school's.

Can you ask that your daughter not being present? Not sure how you'd approach that though without it turning into a 'now Felicity you need to leave the room because we're going to watch the news and you can't cope with it so off you go' situation.

Until it's not. I doubt any child is getting unduly upset about science and tech. You don't have to be affected by every news story going, but a headline or a brief report on something that is frightening or even misunderstood is all it takes for some children - adults, even - to feel anxious and overwhelmed.

Children so not have the processing capacity we do. They understand things in a different way.

Do think that the students need to having been shown it. If it is truly harming your child to see these things then she should be excused until it’s over and also supported with her mental health and concerns. It is frightening and the wars coupled with a very recent bereavement will be hitting very hard as death is no longer an abstract concept and the fragility of life is perhaps dawning on her and war is death on a very large scale so a lot to comprehend

I agree. Once children are no longer literal babies, the idea that everyone develops at their own rate becomes something of a sneered-at concept. Every child must be like this at x age and like this thing and think this way. Otherwise what are you doing as a parent? Either babying them or neglecting then or overexposing or wrapping them up. Why do we all still seem to follow peer-pressure mentality?

That’s rubbish! You can’t chuck that sort of stuff at a 7 yr old and expect them to get on with their day without asking questions!!

And as a teacher of 8/9 yr olds you will know well that some children raise their worries near constantly and others keep them bottled up. You know that a programmed designed for the “over sevens” will probably be fine for most of the class in year in years 5 & 6 but a sizeable number of year 2 will still not be ready.

You will also know that putting on TV to keep pupils under control/quiet has nothing to do with education and everything to do with babysitting instead of teaching.

The OP is correct - if the programme is to be shown there should be some discussion afterward with the teacher. If there isn’t time for the discussion then instead of showing newsround have a discussion.

If your school is showing newsround as pacifier before assembly then presumably its juniors only? The programme is designed to elicit discussion, not be used as cheap babysitting.

I grew up in London before the digital age and what you are describing is comparing chalk and cheese.

The news cycle was at fixed times, not 24 hours and so was summarised with relatively little “gritty” detail and watersheds meant even that detail was on the later news programmes at 9 or 10pm. I walked past billboards and barely registered them or maybe asked a question. The print media also rarely had the more graphic pictures and of course it was all black and white which massively lessens the impact of the pictures. The only time we saw children in war zones in colour and video form was on items such as the Blue Peter appeals. The famous black and white picture of the naked 10 year old girl in Vietnam was famous because it was deemed utterly shocking. That same picture now wouldn’t even register as we are bombarded with ever more graphic images in a battle for our attention.

Newsround specifically I thought was a good programme for its selections and explanations of the material but any programme designed for over sevens is probably only suitable in school sized audiences for a year or two above that and any TV shown should be discussed in class.
At home parents can control and discuss content with their own child at the appropriate age, but using Newsround as a handy babysitter for year 2 which is right on the borders of suitability is stupid, even it it enables an easy box tick as “cover” for current affairs in the curriculum.

Watching TV at school has been a long-term thing, remember the days of the big telly in a wooden case on wheels being wheeled into the classroom for the schools' programmes, and everyone with great maturity pretending to 'shoot' the seconds as they disappeared from the clock 😆

@C8H10N4O2what do you do in your school?

Pretty much every school around here uses a couple of minutes of music for this age group going into assembly - not a million miles from “Mrs Foo playing the piano” which was the norm when I was this age.

I note you avoid the suitability of using TV, let alone news TV, as a babysitter for this age group.

I remember that - it was always a specific programme to support a specific lesson and formed part of the discussions/homework/class activities. It wasn’t unsupported babysitting (I’d give a pass on the ubiquitous film at the end of term).

Thats life, teachers (I was one) can manage this. If an activity makes a child ill, the child obviously needs to not do it.

Don't make her watch it twice - that's just doubling the problem.

She's recently bereaved, just ask school to take her out for a while.