Talking to children about tragedy

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - Tragedies like the shootings in Dallas as well as many others from Baton Rouge to San Bernardino are putting Americans everywhere on edge. Senseless tragedies with terrible images spring up all the time across the globe. And they can have an impact on children who are exposed to them.

So how should parents talk to their children about horrific tragedies like this?

Jeanette Betancourt is senior vice president of U.S. Social Impact at Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind "Sesame Street," the show that has been entertaining and educating the nation's children for almost 50 years. She says Parents are key in talking about this kind of violence.

"Talking about this with children; first, give them comfort, ask them questions, and then also say that they're safe and that they are together as a family," Betancourt says.

She adds that keeping an open line of communication between parents and their children and being proactive can make a big difference.

"Try to avoid continued media exposure, especially for young children. We don't want young children seeing these almost inexplicable incidents," she says. "In ways say that bad things can happen and really say that there's a way that we can talk about it. But sometimes out of bad things sometimes good things also happen."

Some parents told Fox 5 that it is all about balance between fear and just being a kid.