Child upset about "end of the world"

Sunny Dayz

A pupil in my son's national school yesterday told the class that the world was going to end on some date in 2030-something - that a big meteor would hit the earth and cause tidal waves and kill us all.


My son obviously took it seriously, he thought about it in his head for a bit and when my mum had him after school, she said he got so upset about it she thought he was going to have a panic attack. I didn't raise the subject with him but he brought it up himself yesterday evening when we were at home. We talked it through, I explained how most things on tv aren't real even though they may seem very real, I said maybe the person got it wrong or exaggerated the story and I said these things don't really happen, that meteors get destroyed in the earth's atmosphere long before the reach the earth's surface. I know he was still thinking about it later cos he brought up then about something was supposed to happen in 2012 (I seen the film myself) and I just said to him well it's 2015 now, did anything happen??


It's just sticking in my mind cos my mum said that when he was sobbing in her house he said he didn't want to die.
I'm feeling annoyed that someone made my son so upset about dying. I'm wondering should I say something to the school about it or just write it off as my son maybe being a bit sensitive and a lesson to him not to believe everything he's told...

lainycool

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

A pupil in my son's national school yesterday told the class that the world was going to end on some date in 2030-something - that a big meteor would hit the earth and cause tidal waves and kill us all.


My son obviously took it seriously, he thought about it in his head for a bit and when my mum had him after school, she said he got so upset about it she thought he was going to have a panic attack. I didn't raise the subject with him but he brought it up himself yesterday evening when we were at home. We talked it through, I explained how most things on tv aren't real even though they may seem very real, I said maybe the person got it wrong or exaggerated the story and I said these things don't really happen, that meteors get destroyed in the earth's atmosphere long before the reach the earth's surface. I know he was still thinking about it later cos he brought up then about something was supposed to happen in 2012 (I seen the film myself) and I just said to him well it's 2015 now, did anything happen??


It's just sticking in my mind cos my mum said that when he was sobbing in her house he said he didn't want to die.
I'm feeling annoyed that someone made my son so upset about dying. I'm wondering should I say something to the school about it or just write it off as my son maybe being a bit sensitive and a lesson to him not to believe everything he's told...

To be honest it goes on in all schools, I'm 30 now and there was always talk about the end of the world and like your son I used to get myself in a right state about it!
My dad used to always reassure me that that kind of talk went on in his day and that the world wouldn't be ending anytime soon and that used to make me feel better!

It's just a phase and it will pass :-)

StonyIron

As long as it's not the teacher who is saying it, I think you'll just have a equip your son with facts.

The reality being that there's no evidence of any risk of anything like that happening anytime soon.

Also, if a big meteor were on the way, it's possible we'd see it coming and that we've enough technology to nudge it onto a different trajectory.

Just tell him that various space agencies track and categorise large objects like that's and that we are doing more and more of that.

So it's likely we would know about something for many years ahead of time.

Considering that the European Space Agency landed the Philae probe (part of the Rosetta mission) on a comet, there's no reason why we couldn't land something capable of firing rockets to push something off course.

It's very easy to push a large object in space! (No friction and no gravity).

Maybe show him the Philae mission. There's tons of info on ESA's website including videos and cartoons.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of "end of the world" type nonsense in the USA at the moment with various religious cults constantly predicting "the rapture" and so on.
It tends do spread into the online media and scares the hell out of some kids.

He's obviously bright enough to understand the science behind it so, just give him all the facts and show him how people are working on mitigating the risks.

Sunny Dayz

Thanks all. It was said by another pupil during their science class, and as far as I know the teacher heard it and didn't say anything.


He was much calmer this morning. I just wasn't sure if it was something I should bring up with the teacher.

StonyIron

Try:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7mf1Qvswtw

for the ESA cartoons

They really went to town on the communications and projects aimed at younger audiences.

You can even follow the probe as a character on Twitter where it'll talk about what it's been up to...

All resources : sci esa int / rosetta/53593-outreach-resources/

Add dots between the first three words I can't post urls

looksee

No, don't bring it up with the teacher. Its the kind of thing he could have heard anywhere, and it is more important that he learns to rationalise things - people say a lot of things that are nonsense, and he has to learn to figure out which information is useful/worth taking seriously - stuff that he is taught and that you tell him, and which is not - pretty well everything else! Its all part of the learning process.

In this particular case, in talking to the teacher you would be helping build a protective wall around him so that he does not have to think and reason.

StonyIron

Knowledge is key here.

The reality is, that meteors exist but we are working on and probably have enough technology to defend the planet against them in the very unlikely event anything ever does come our way.

You can also explain that the gas giant planets - Neptune, Jupiter and Saturn act a bit like giant "hoovers" - They tend to gather up small objects and pull them in due to their size and powerful gravity.

This in general shields the inner planets : Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.

So we've both natural and technological protections!

If you're near Dublin or Cork there are some great space resources too.

Science Museum, Dunsink Observatory in Dublin and Blackrock Castle Observatory which has really great kids programmes.

Sunny Dayz

looksee wrote: »

No, don't bring it up with the teacher. Its the kind of thing he could have heard anywhere, and it is more important that he learns to rationalise things - people say a lot of things that are nonsense, and he has to learn to figure out which information is useful/worth taking seriously - stuff that he is taught and that you tell him, and which is not - pretty well everything else! Its all part of the learning process.

In this particular case, in talking to the teacher you would be helping build a protective wall around him so that he does not have to think and reason.

You are right.
I know everything and anything can be said in the playground and no one has any control over that. But the fact it was said in the classroom and the teacher did nothing about it just got my back up.

StonyIron

Unfortunately, teachers don't always notice everything. It's possible that she/he said something to counteract it, but maybe it didn't get picked up too.

The problem is that at that kind of age, kids are extremely literal and don't necessarily have a great grasp of remote possibility vs likely or magic thinking vs fact.

Also different kids can have quite different levels of maturity - some can be quite capable of dealing with conjecture, sarcasm and more grown-up type debate, while others can still be incredibly literal. It's not even an intelligence thing, just a different developmental stage that we all reach at slightly different age.

pwurple

Some children love to freak others out with gross stories, or scary stories. Totally normal.

And normal for your child to be scared by it too. He does have to learn to be cynical, otherwise he's going to be buying every magic bean going for the rest of his life. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057490067

This is a great opportunity for learning that.

Akrasia

Tell your kid that by the time 2030 comes, he will be a grown up, and if there were any meteors coming for earth, he'd be able to become a scientist and invent a rocket or laser or whatever that will be able to save the world.

Gives your child some agency over the situation and give him an interest in science and space

Kids are most afraid of things that they don't think they have any control over.

di11on

I had this chat with my daughter once one of these whack jobs was predicting our demise on some or other date

We went on the internet and looked up all these predictions and who and what groups have predicted what.

After a while I said: "and what have we learned"

The reply came back: "that it's all non sense?"

Yes indeedy-doo

Das Kitty

If that question came to me from my lad, I'd tell him that every couple of years someone makes up one of these end of the world dates to get everyone scared. I've lived through dozens of "ends of the world" at this stage.

I used to worry about tidal waves when I was in primary school. I can't remember why, but people used to laugh at me about it. :pac:

evolving_doors

There's an Ad playing at the moment for a TV show that's coming on: "You me and the Apocalypse" . My kid caught a glimpse and asked if this was going to happen? So it might be 'in the air' if other kids are seeing the same Ad.

Reminds me of one saturday when I was about 10 they played and excerpt from War of The Worlds on the radio and I walked into the kitchen. I was freeked out of my head as I thought it was real.

It's good though, reminds us of our mortality and makes a kid think about the bigger picture.

Wesser

I don't think it's appropriate to complain to the school in this incident. You feel unhappy that another kid has upset your son, but that's just another kid having s but if fun and not acting maliciously. Kids will be kids and they will tell stories and make stuff up. This doesn't mean the school has done anything wrong and you don't have anyone to complain to. Your son is going to hear stories that upset him ..... That's part of life, you can't wrap him in a bubble. The modern way to parent is to complain and kick up a fuss when something unhappy happens. In my opinion your better off trying to equip your son with the skills he needs to cope when **** happens in life, not to dash in all guns blazing and complain. I think you did the right thing and you have no business bothering anyone at school.

Sunny Dayz

Gebgbegb wrote: »

There's an Ad playing at the moment for a TV show that's coming on: "You me and the Apocalypse" . My kid caught a glimpse and asked if this was going to happen? So it might be 'in the air' if other kids are seeing the same Ad.

Yeah he seen that ad too as they started broadcasting it just after the incident and made it play on his mind a bit longer. I'm actually thinking of making him sit down on watch the program as it might make him realise that it's just tv and not real!

Sunny Dayz

Wesser wrote: »

I don't think it's appropriate to complain to the school in this incident. You feel unhappy that another kid has upset your son, but that's just another kid having s but if fun and not acting maliciously. Kids will be kids and they will tell stories and make stuff up. This doesn't mean the school has done anything wrong and you don't have anyone to complain to. Your son is going to hear stories that upset him ..... That's part of life, you can't wrap him in a bubble. The modern way to parent is to complain and kick up a fuss when something unhappy happens. In my opinion your better off trying to equip your son with the skills he needs to cope when **** happens in life, not to dash in all guns blazing and complain. I think you did the right thing and you have no business bothering anyone at school.

Oh I hear ya - kids hear all sorts out in the school yard and in the estate. It was just the fact that it was said out loud in the classroom as part of the school lesson and the teacher did nothing about it that had annoyed me.

cbyrd

I'm laughing at how my son who, started school this September, has started asking questions like

?is our house asteroid proof?
?is our house earthquake proof?
?what would happen if our house goes on fire when we go out?
?what would happen if our house goes on fire when we're in bed?
?if we left all our taps on would our house float away ?
?are we all going to die?

There's lots of dark questions here. This is only a few I can remember off the top of my head.. It makes me laugh but at the same time I answer him honestly but without scaring him too much.
It shows he's starting to think about the world around him, mortality and by sharing his fears I can reassure him.
The question about us all going to die did catch me off guard , I told him yes we are, but not until we're hopefully very old and doddery..
To the asteroid question, I gave a big laugh and told him it wouldn't matter if our house was asteroid proof cos we aren't and we'd be squished... It made him laugh too..
Three fire when we're in bed one, I took him to his room and asked him if he could climb out the window with his eyes closed, he did. Then I told him if there was ever a fire this is what he is to do and then wait at the front gate front me.. He hasn't asked me since..

Whitewinged

I think its just a part of learning as you grow up. Its not the boy who told the stories fault or the schools or anything like that. Its just sometimes things stand out to you growing up and make you think so id say his reaction is healthy.

i remember seeing a movie about these people on a train who had rabies and they couldnt stop the train. I dont even know if that is really what the film was about or just what i picked up from seeing it but i went through a phase where i wouldnt go on a train. Also there was some old man in my neighbourhood that i seen and he had this kind of foam at the mouth (horrible example i know) but i became convinced that he had rabies and was terrified of catching it.

Had someone told me the story your son heard, i might have reacted the same or i might not. Its just little things that scare you a bit and realisations about mortality which even as adults we all get from time to time. You did the right thing just by comforting him, edjucating him and reassuring.

Whitewinged

Gebgbegb wrote: »

Reminds me of one saturday when I was about 10 they played and excerpt from War of The Worlds on the radio and I walked into the kitchen. I was freeked out of my head as I thought it was real.
e.

Ha my mam used to always play the record and i was terrified. Now i love it.