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.