The television news can be incredibly scary. With the focus being on bad and tragic news and information, children can get exposed to some rather graphic and unpleasant realities long before they are really developmentally old enough to process them. I remember one of my own children having nightmares for nearly a year when she heard a statement on the news that said something like every person in America would experience a house fire in their lifetime. She was horrified that our house would burn any day. So, how old should children be before they watch the news, and what can parents do to help children learn how to process local and world news?
The thing with the news is that young children cannot differentiate between what is happening in their own neighborhood and what is happening half-way around the world. A child’s world is quite small and television can bring exposure to things that children wouldn’t ordinary get. Young children cannot sort out what is real and what is not, or what is a likely and reasonable danger and what is not. Until children are elementary-aged, it is probably a good idea that they NOT watch the evening or morning news. Most are developmentally unable to filter and process. Of course, watching a pleasant human-interest story or the weather report is probably fine—but the harder, graphic, sensational news is best avoided.
As children get into grade school and learn to read, and become increasingly exposed to the world at large, parents can help a child learn to process hard news by watching the news WITH them—asking questions, and answering any questions or concerns that may come up. This way you will also know what information and where the information comes from that your child receives in case fears and concerns do develop.
While it is not always possible to protect our children from everything, premature exposure to the often scary and difficult subject matter that occurs on the news should probably be avoided until a child is developmentally old enough to work through the fears, questions, and concerns that might arise. Since all children are different, this could be a range of ages, but parents can help ease children into the exposure with care and attention.
See Also: Processing Tragic News as a Family