According to Joe Brassington, a primary school teacher and co-author of Bottled, a picture book to help children share their feelings, using the past two years and children’s  experience of the pandemic can really help. “Explain to them that two years ago we were faced with Covid – something we never experienced before and didn’t know everything about and now we have answers and we got through it and we’ll do the same in this situation,” says Brassington. “Try to get them to focus on what’s happening in the Ukraine now, rather than thinking about what could happen here in the UK. In my experience, children are so much more resilient than we give them credit for, even more so after Covid.”

Vecht suggests getting a map out and showing children where the Ukraine is so they get a sense of perspective. 

“They need to know that Ukraine is far away and they’re safe as this age group are mainly concerned about how it will affect their daily life,” she says. “But be careful about constantly having the news on in the background or exposing children to scary images. And if they’re anxious, give them outlets to express their emotions such as drawing, journaling, imaginative play or writing thoughts down on bits of paper and placing them in a ‘worry box’ so they can let those feelings go.” 

Under 14s

Younger teens with access to phones will be receiving their information from multiple sources such as Instagram, Tik Tok or YouTube that are out of parents’ control and may well be scaremongering so the starting point will be to determine what they already know and to check for misinformation or confusion. 

“At this age they’re developing their ability to do critical thinking so explore that with them and ask them what they’d want to see in this situation and why this is important to them,” suggests Dr Trent. “Treat it like a history project and help them with research whether it’s about Putin or Russian history and talk to them about fake news and where they can find reputable sources of information such as the BBC, Guardian, Bloomberg, Telegraph, which may mitigate any panic.”

Don’t forget that children are digital natives. “They’ve grown up in the digital world and are more equipped even than adults to spot a spam email so utilise their knowledge and get them to think: where is this image or video from? What is its intention?” adds Brassington.