Bomb Threat in Delhi-NCR Schools: It Can Cause Mental Distress for Children

The first morning of May started with widespread fear among children, parents, and school authorities all over Delhi NCR with schools receiving bomb threats. Prominent schools like DPS, Amity, and Sanskriti were recipients of such threatening emails. Mass evacuations were conducted as preventive measures, and all the students were sent back home as schools came under emergency. The ongoing exam was stopped too in Mother Mary School in East Delhi. Parents rushed and gathered outside of school in concern for their children. Other schools that have not received such bomb threats were also closed to have maximum prevention.

Similar threats were received by a few hospitals and airports as well. Police, bomb detection team, disposal squad, and fire services have searched and investigated all the premises of schools, and nothing suspicious was found in any of them. The Ministry of Home Affairs has assured these threats as a hoax with no need to panic. Delhi Education Minister Atishi claimed that children and parents were targeted to create panic. The objective of these threats appears to create collective fear among people, which brings us the concern- how can this psychologically impact children?

Psychological impacts include the mental stress that children and their parents may feel due to sudden threats of terrorism, disrupting their regular school routine and learning.

• PTSD: Children who witnessed the threat of bombing or any other terrorist activities may develop characteristics of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Anxiety levels can be seen to increase. A PubMed central study shows the prevalence of PTSD among victims and witnesses to be 11.2%.
• Sleep Difficulties: Children, of any age can face disruption in sleeping patterns due to such terrorist threats. Few of the children can suffer from nightmares, like that of chaotic evacuation. These sleep difficulties can be induced through stress caused by terrorist threats.
• Feeling unsafe in school: These children can feel a reduced sense of safety in their school. School as a social institution is the second home for children where they spend a fair share of their time in a day. It thus becomes important that they feel safe and secure in the school setup. Without this, the learning process as well as effective personality development can be hampered.

How can parents help their kids?

Parents play the most important role in helping their children to cope with such traumatic events. With the right parental support, the child can have a safe space, reducing any chances of unhealthy habits like smoking.

Calming yourself first:

When your child’s safety is compromised, it is natural to feel anxious and panic. Maintaining a calm demeanor is important for parent as well as for their child. Often, the child inhibits and learns through incidental learning, that is they imitate what they see consciously or subconsciously. How a parent handles a panic situation, gives the child a demonstration of how they can react in such times of crisis.

Listening to their experience:

Though this threat might appear to be a hoax, it can still panic the child and leave him with stress and anxiety. Listening out to what your child felt during this time, especially when sudden evacuation caused crowding. If your child has an earlier fear of suffocation or claustrophobia, ask about how he deals with it, along with giving tips to handle it efficiently.

Providing right knowledge:

With such news of a bomb threat, the child may feel curious about terrorism. The Internet and social media are indeed an abundant reservoir of knowledge. But it is on parents, as well as school authorities to make sure that filtered knowledge is presented to the child. The child should not come across any violent content of terrorism on the internet which can be traumatic for the child. Accommodating children with the right approach to sensitive topics like terrorism helps them to accept it efficiently.

From negativity to positivity:

Terrorist threats manifest a negative atmosphere. Let the child do something that he likes. To balance out the turmoil of emotions the child had gone through, let him/her rest with peaceful activities. It can be as simple as a play day or a favorite food.

Reducing video games:

Many video games often involve violent concepts of war. Children who are accustomed to such games can relate game violence to terrorism, underestimating its consequences in real life. Parents must get involved in their gaming hobbies and let their children draw a line between the world of video game violence and terrorism.

In a crux, such bomb threats aim to instill collective fear in society. Dealing with psychological distress, especially among children is necessary with the help of the right parenting and professional support.