I have no words to adequately express the deep sadness our staff at Morningside felt as the news of the school shooting broke yesterday.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims, survivors, and first responders to this tragic and inexplicable violence.

My sister, who has young children and lives an hour from Newtown, CT. sent me this link to a video made yesterday by Dr. Alan E. Kazdin, Professor of Psychology at Yale University and Director of Yale’s Parenting Center.  He has some tremendously helpful suggestions for helping families cope with this disturbing tragedy. There are many resources available online, but I thought this one was the best and wanted to share it with you.

We have a policy of not discussing traumatic events at school in front of the children – period.  As the director, I monitor such situations through computer media, but only upstairs away from the eyes and ears of little ones.  I will advise the teachers to stop any group talk that starts at Morningside on Monday.  Any individual child that brings it up will be walked to the kitchen for a big hug, and reassurance of safety and then we will call the parents to ask if they would like to talk with their child or what further action they would like us to take.

If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to email me.