Among those who evacuated when wildfires devastated Southern California communities was David J. Schonfeld, M.D., FAAP, a developmental-behavioral pediatrician and director of the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. He also is a member of the AAP Council on Children and Disasters Executive Committee.
Dr. Schonfeld recently shared his expertise and first-hand experience with the wildfires during a Healthy Children podcast, conducted by host Edith Bracho-Sanchez, M.D., FAAP. The transcript was edited for space.
Dr. Bracho-Sanchez: How can parents explain to their kids these natural events and why they're happening?
Dr. Schonfeld: Start by asking, “Have you heard about what’s happening?” There’s a very good chance they’ve heard. Then give them a simple explanation about what you know has occurred without speculating. Children tend to overhear things, whether it’s through the media or conversations, even if you try and block their exposure.
In the case of the recent fires, you would say a fire occurred in an area of California. They have very dry weather right now, and there’s a risk of fires. It spread quickly, and a lot of buildings were burned, and that’s why people are upset. I wouldn’t speculate about whether that’s going to happen where you live. Just tell them simply what’s happened and then ask what questions they have.
Dr. Bracho-Sanchez: How are parents in your community doing?
Dr. Schonfeld: I live about six blocks away from the edge of where the fire reached. We were evacuated for about a week. We're very close to Altadena. A lot of that community has been destroyed, and a number of deaths have occurred. A lot of residents are really struggling. They’ve lost their homes. They don't know where they’re going to live. They’re trying to figure out how to not only support their children, but what they’re going to do for the future.
Dr. Bracho-Sanchez: How can we prepare for these events if they threaten our neighborhoods?
Dr. Schonfeld: First, understand that you may feel emotionally impacted by this, even if it happened very far away. We call it a loss to your assumptive world. We make certain assumptions that if we take reasonable steps, bad things won't happen to us if we are good people. For example, wildfires occurred in my community — a suburban community not surrounded by forest where you would expect a fire. But sometimes these things do occur.
Think about what you might do if you have to leave quickly, and then just make sure you’re ready to take care of your child, their needs. Also, know where you’re going to evacuate to, and that depends on the disaster.
Dr. Bracho-Sanchez: As we are packing our bag in advance, how do we incorporate the children?
Dr. Schonfeld: You don’t want to worry them. You don’t want them to feel that they’re vulnerable every day. You would say, “Although we don’t expect we’ll need to evacuate, there may be a moment when we have to do that. And it’s good just to be ready so we stay safe. Why don’t you think about some of the things you’d want to put in the bag.” Engage them in collecting things.
Dr. Bracho-Sanchez: Let’s say we must evacuate right now. How you would say “We’ve got to go” without scaring a 3-year-old?
Dr. Schonfeld: It depends how quickly you have to leave. In our case, a neighbor called us and said, “Look out the back window.” And you could see flames in the background. It just was a very large fire, and it was kind of scary looking. At that point, I said, “I think we should leave. I don't think we have to wait for evacuation orders,” which did come about an hour later.
If I had a child in the house, I would say, “We really need to leave now.” I wouldn’t say, “Come look at the fire.” I don’t want them to remember that moment in a vivid way. I want them instead to remember that we came together as a family and that we knew what to do and we safely evacuated.
Dr. Bracho-Sanchez: How do we help the children in your community?
Dr. Schonfeld: We have to restore, as soon as we can, some structure and predictability that allows them to return to more of a routine. You may not be able to tell them when they’re going to be able to get back into their house or if they’re going to be able to stay in the same community. But you can tell them what time dinner is and what they’re going to be doing tomorrow morning. Whatever you can share with them about their routine is useful.
We also have to ask them how they’re feeling. Is there anything they’re worried about? We tend to assume children worry about what adults worry about. That isn’t the case. They have different concerns, worries, fears and things that upset them. When children tell you they’re upset, we must avoid saying you shouldn’t be upset, or it’s not that bad. We should tell children how to cope with distressing feelings instead of pretending that they don’t or shouldn’t have them.
Dr. Bracho-Sanchez: What is one thing you want all parents to remember about preparing for natural disasters?
Dr. Schonfeld: These are life-changing events. Many individuals, although not the majority, will develop what we call post-traumatic growth. They emerge with a new sense of importance of things in their lives, sometimes more spirituality, a greater sense of community in some situations, and many devote their lives to helping others as a result of having been helped in these events. They also may gain skills that they may be able to use to deal with future adversity. Of course, it takes a long time to fully recover, so we have to provide support through that period. But you shouldn’t feel your kids are destined to be damaged.
Dr. Bracho-Sanchez How do you recommend that we think about the trauma of the day vs. the grief that comes after?
Dr. Schonfeld: That’s an important distinction. When your home is destroyed or parts of your community are, you get a sense of loss and grief, and that’s different than trauma. In trauma, we have to deal with something that happened. But in grief, we have to deal with the absence of something for the rest of our lives, something that was important to us. Understanding that phenomenon guides how we support them.
