Posted on: Sunday, November 18, 2001

Tots also susceptible to Sept. 11 anxiety

USA Today

Missy Disterhoft was surprised to learn that her 3-year-old son, Nate, was crashing a toy plane into a Lego tower at his day-care center the week after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

The Iowa City mom says she restricted TV watching after Sept. 11, but Nate knew more about the tragedy than she had realized. In fact, Nate pulled a sleeping bag into his parents' room and slept there for a week — an action that Disterhoft attributes to anxiety over the terrorist attacks.

Much attention has been focused on how school-age kids and teens are coping since Sept. 11, but little attention has been paid to very young children, who may be particularly vulnerable to ongoing stress because they can't easily articulate their feelings.

There has never been a tragedy of this magnitude with the potential to affect the lives of so many young children, says Kyle Pruett, a child psychiatrist at Yale University and a spokesman for Zero To Three, a Washington-based national organization dedicated to the well-being of young children.

Yet many adults dismiss the impact of recent events on very young children, he says. Often they don't realize that young children understand and may be frightened by graphic TV images. Or they may not know that young children, even babies, can pick up on an adult's anxiety.

Of course, not every child in the United States has experienced a trauma related to Sept. 11 or its aftermath. Some children may not be affected much. But even now, some children still may be suffering from a state of unease.

The plane-crash game makes many adults uncomfortable, and yet dramatic play helps children cope with scary feelings, says T. Berry Brazelton, the well-known pediatrician and author from Boston. Such games help children work through and even master powerful emotions such as fear, he says.

Children often express emotions with dramatic play, games, artwork and even with behaviors such as temper tantrums, says Betty Ablon, a Dallas child-development specialist who works with child-care centers. Adults can help that process along by commenting on a game, artwork or even a behavior, Ablon says. Often a simple comment will give the child permission to talk. Sometimes that conversation reveals a child's fear or worry, Ablon says. If so, parents should acknowledge the fear and offer reassurance, she says.