Stop using the children

Please stop using the children.

The issue of gun control should be addressed by adults. After the Newtown shootings, reporters asked medical professionals and children’s advocates how parents should talk to their children after that unspeakable event. The experts advised: Say very little; don’t give detailed explanations to young children. They encouraged parents to tell their children that they would be safe, they love them, and they would take care of them.

Children should be sheltered from distant problems. The parents of the children of Sandy Hook Elementary School have a very different task, but for families far from the immediate tragedy, it simply is unwarranted to foster further fear in their little children.

We were dismayed to see televised interviews with children discussing the event. Their parents should have avoided reporters’ efforts to exploit the children for their sound bites and news scoops.

We were sad to see President Barack Obama announce his plans for gun control accompanied by children. It was a bald ploy to exploit them to further his agenda. He obviously dismissed the exhortations of the childhood development experts. We should not be surprised if repetitive events of this type extend and deepen the feelings of fear in children.

Diana Fredley

Newport