Helping kids cope following mass shooting in Boulder

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- In Colorado, many high school-aged kids are old enough to remember several of the state's most recent mass-shootings.

In 2015, the mass shooting at Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs killed three people. In 2017, a mass shooting at a Thorton Walmart left three people dead. Two years after that, a student was killed in the Stem School shooting in Highlands Ranch. Before all of them, they saw the Aurora theater shooting and learned about the Columbine High School attack.

In response, many local districts have specific policies for talking to students about mass-shootings.

Leaders at District 11 said students practice drills under the “Standard Response Protocol”, which includes what to do in the case of a lockdown on campus.

Over the past few years, they’ve also implemented social-emotional learning to the core curriculum to teach students how to cope with trauma.

Experts at Children’s Hospital Colorado advise parents to have conversations about mass shootings at home, as well. They recommend that parents of teenagers or preteens ask them what they’ve seen on social media.

If it’s something that’s been impacting them negatively, try to monitor how much time they have online each day.

Experts suggest parents have conversations about traumatic news events with kids, even with those in elementary school.

Following the tragedy in Boulder, experts said it's important parents limit how much news they watch in front of their kids, too.

More on how to have effective, age-appropriate conversations with your kids here.