Edwina Bartholomew: Children should never see things like this on TV

As a mother and a journalist, Edwina Bartholomew is sometimes torn about what kids are exposed to on TV. She categorically ruled one thing out this week.

There are some news stories that really smack you in the face, stories so heartbreaking that you find yourself unable to finish an article or watch to the very end.

The school shooting in Nashville felt like that this week. I’m not sure why this particular shooting hit home; there have been more than 130 mass shootings in the US this year alone. I think it was the little faces of those terrified primary school kids on the bus or the reports of mums and dads shouting their kids’ names to see if they survived. It was almost too much to bear.

A child weeps while on the bus leaving The Covenant School, following the horrific mass shooting in Nashville, Tennessee. Picture: Reuters

I have always been a news junkie. I literally “read” the news for a job but I also consume the news daily through every different channel; the newspaper, online, on social media and sit down religiously for the 6pm news every night.

Growing up, it was the same. Mum and Dad would always have the news on during or after dinner.

At three years old, my daughter is too young to understand half the stories in the bulletin. She fondly remembers when the lions escaped from Taronga Zoo in Sydney because we watched that story over and over again and even went to the Zoo to imagine all the fun adventures they got up to.

On big news days where we know terror or mayhem will dominate the first few stories, we delay watching or switch it on after the kids have gone to bed.

Girls embrace in front of a makeshift memorial for victims by The Covenant School building at The Covenant Presbyterian Church following the shooting. Picture: AFP

I’m genuinely curious as to what you do at your house. Is there an age where kids should watch the news?

Should you sit with them to answer any pressing questions or concerns? Perhaps learning about the world in all its messy glory is just a rite of passage?

I imagine if you’re a parent in the US this week, watching the news was off the cards. How do you explain to a nine-year-old that a group of kids the same age were senselessly shot in their classroom?

Thank God we live in a country where our kids can go to school and come home safely and where our most pressing concern is should they watch the news, not when will they become the news.

Originally published as Edwina Bartholomew: Children should never see things like this on TV