06/22/2025
How do we talk to our kids about war?
The news from Iran is heartbreaking. As a mom, therapist, and human, I’m scared too. These conversations aren’t easy—but silence doesn’t protect our kids. It just leaves them to process fear and confusion alone.
Here’s what I’m leaning into as a mental health professional and as a parent:
✨ Kids notice everything. Even if we try to shield them, they pick up on tension in our voices, words on the radio, images on a screen. That awareness needs grounding.
🧠 Keep it developmentally appropriate. You don’t need to explain foreign policy to a 7-year-old. But you can say something like, “Yes, something scary is happening far away, and the grown-ups in the world are trying to figure out how to stop more people from getting hurt. You’re safe here, and you can ask me anything.”
💬 Leave the door open. When kids ask questions—especially hard ones—we want to meet them with honesty, not panic. “I don’t know, but I can find out,” is a powerful answer.
❤️ Model emotional regulation. It’s okay for them to know we’re sad or worried—but show them how you care for yourself too: take breaks, breathe, limit the doomscrolling.
And sometimes… they say something that reminds us there’s still beauty and wonder even in chaos.
When the footage showed a B-2 bomber in the background, my 7 year old daughter said, “That was designed after a peregrine falcon.”
And… she wasn’t wrong. Engineers have studied the falcon’s aerodynamics for stealth aircraft.
Somehow, even while the world burns, our kids keep finding wings. 🕊️
We can’t make the world safe overnight. But we can make our world safer to feel in.
Let’s keep talking. Let’s keep holding space.
❤️ Jess E.
