Doctor Shares Advice For Parents Talking About Texas School Shooting With Their Kids

As both kids and adults process the tragedy in Texas, mental health professionals want to help.

"Emotions, anger and all these things are a normal part of the human experience," said Dr. Scott Moseman.

Moseman is a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Saint Francis.

In addition to helping kids, he also works with parents about ways to talk about the mass shooting.

"It's trying to find a balance in talking to yourself before you talk to your kids can be important and about not imposing your own emotions on your kids," said Moseman.

Moseman said it’s important to have an open environment and understand your child's own sensitivities and take into account their age.

Some kids may ask, others may not want to discuss it, and that's okay.

"I think you want to at least bring it up and let them know that there's a forum to talk about difficult topics in this family and with me as your parent," said Moseman.

Moseman said the pandemic has already been hard on kids, and news stories like Tuesday’s school shooting can worsen anxiety.

But he said parents shouldn’t be surprised if their child is not as overwhelmed as they feel.

"What we have to realize unfortunately, is that we have a generation of kids that are growing up with this being relatively common news for them and so as they hear it again and again, there can be some de-sensation," said Moseman.

Moseman said the key is to let kids share their emotions and watch for warning signs of other mental health issues.

Some of those signs include not sleeping, not eating, not wanting to go to school or not wanting to see their friends.