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Tips on Talking to Kids about COVID-19

(Updated 6/26/2020)

Helpful information regarding talking to children about COVID-19 from The National Association of School Psychologists, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Association of School Nurses, the National Association of School Psychologists, The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN),  the World Health Organization (WHO), PBS, and Switchboard. Many of these resources are multilingual.

Original Publication Date: July 13, 2020
Last Updated: February 17, 2023
Estimated Read Time: 2 minutes

Helpful information regarding talking to children about COVID-19 from The National Association of School Psychologists, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Association of School Nurses, the National Association of School Psychologists, The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), the World Health Organization (WHO), PBS, and Switchboard. Many of these resources are multilingual.

Helping Children Cope With Changes Resulting From COVID-19, a resource page on talking to children about COVID-19, from The National Association of School Psychologists, including the following resources:

Talking with children about Coronavirus Disease 2019 from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Messages for parents, school staff, and others working with children (also available in Spanish). As public conversations around coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) increase, children may worry about themselves, their family, and friends getting ill with COVID-19. Parents, family members, school staff, and other trusted adults can play an important role in helping children make sense of what they hear in a way that is honest, accurate, and minimizes anxiety or fear. CDC has created guidance to help adults have conversations with children about COVID-19 and ways they can avoid getting and spreading the disease. Also from the CDC: 

Talking to Children about COVID-19, developed by the National Association of School Nurses and the National Association of School Psychologists. Also available in Spanish.

Parent/Caregiver Guide to Helping Families Cope with Coronavirus Disease 2019 from The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). 

Helping Children Cope with Stress During Coronavirus from the World Health Organization (WHO). This is an English-only flyer, but similar information available on website in SpanishRussianFrenchChinese, Arabic.

PBS – How You and Your Kids Can De-Stress During Coronavirus

Helping Refugee Children and Parents Cope During the COVID-19 Crisis from Switchboard

Additional Resources