Talking to Kids About Japan’s Earthquake

Have you spoken with your kids about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan? We’ve touched on it with our seven-year-old, trying to provide some insight into the world beyond our borders—but also wondering whether too much detail will just scare him. So far, I think we’ve managed a balance, though we’ve avoided talking about nuclear meltdowns. (As a child of the Cold War, nuclear disasters were on my own childhood list of nightmare-inducing fears.)

Clearly I’m not the only one thinking about this. School Library Journal has compiled a list of eight picture books: several about Japan and Japanese culture, one about earthquakes, and one about a tsunami in Japan. They also have a list of eight tips for talking with young children about disasters.

Have you spoken with your children about the earthquake or other disasters? What’s been helpful for them and you?

3 thoughts on “Talking to Kids About Japan’s Earthquake”

  1. Well, my son got a lot of detail about it because his science teacher spent an entire class period on the science behind earthquakes, tsunamis, and nuclear power! But he’s in 8th grade, so it seemed age-appropriate. I also watched an evening news special about Japan with my son, and that was good for giving him a chance to discuss some of the emotions behind what happens in a disaster like this.

    In terms of discussing major disasters/traumatic news with younger children, I have one suggestion. My son was 4 when September 11th happened, and as part of our discussions I showed him newspaper photos about the event. I felt he needed to have some visual images in order to understand what was going on, and with a newspaper (unlike TV news) it was very easy for me to only show him images that I thought he could handle. The static images were also less overwhelming than videos would have been.

  2. We have avoided all coverage of it for a few reasons. First, one of our son’s close friends was supposed to move to Japan this past weekend (they haven’t left yet). Second, our son has an anxiety disorder and can get very upset/scared when he sees/hears about natural disasters (we had to explain that hurricanes can’t reach us here in NM after the one that hit Houston a couple of years ago, he still had nightmares). We discuss wildfires because they are a real threat here and we want him to know what to do if he needs to get out of the house. I think it just depends on the child as to whether/how much to discuss things like this.

  3. Our little guys are only three. We avoid news on a big screen, because of the likelihood of “bleeds and leads” coverage, and they have even reacted negatively to the rise and fall of debating voices on the News Hour. Still, I am thinking they will likely crawl atop one of our laps when we may be viewing NHK video et. al.; so my general plan is to narrate what they may see in straight-forward terms: e.g. “the ocean waves can be strong and fierce. That is called a tsunami, and it rare but very dangerous.” I am rather hoping I won’t need to come up with something to say about a plume that poisons Sendai or something more horrific than what we’ve seen.

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