Question to Myriam Castinel, psychologist in Saint Martin
Do children feel their parents' panic? How should adults behave towards them? How should we talk to them?
Children are among the most vulnerable populations. How they experience a hurricane or disaster in general depends largely on the adults around them, but also on their age.
If the adults around him manage to contain their own panic and be reassuring, comforting, the child will experience the passage of the hurricane differently.
Of course, his age will contribute to understanding. Indeed, the smaller the child, the more effective this protective environment will be. And when the child grows, it acquires its own autonomy of physical experience.
A child has a feeling of helplessness and their vulnerability is increased tenfold, especially when they have seen or felt their parents in this panic precisely.
Their panics in the aftermath understand that their schools no longer exist or are broken, the house, their rooms and toys. Everything that makes up their universe.
The important thing afterwards, with children of all ages, is to talk about it. Depending on age, it will be necessary to adapt the explanations, for example, of what a hurricane is. Some very playful little videos that you can find on the net explain the weather mechanisms.
But the most important thing is to free them from their fears. Drawing is a very effective way of communicating with them. It links thought and speech so that they can be relieved of these pervasive everyday symptoms.
Mourning work will have to be put in place because there have been different losses, whether material, physical and emotional. Our daily life is changed and there is an adaptation to implement. We need to readjust to the situation.
This work for children is also valid for adults. Whether they are in Saint-Martin or elsewhere.
Source: www.soualigapost.com
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