Keeping Kids Safe from the Start

Increasingly, children are being affected by violence on television, in video games, in music, in their homes, and communities. A child might even experience it directly by being the victim of violent acts. Both direct and indirect exposure to violence can have lasting effects on development.

We may want to believe because young children cannot fully understand or lack the vocabulary to talk about violent events that happen around them, they aren't affected. This is wrong.

Even if violent situations are far too difficult for them to understand or they lack the verbal skills to express how frightened they are, they may still experience intense feelings of fear and loss.