NEWSDAY
December 4, 2014
Immediately after the Dec. 14, 2012,
shootings in Newtown, Conn., mental health experts offered tips to speechless
parents about how to soothe their children ["Report: Sandy Hook killer
enabled," News, Nov. 22]. The advice sounded like this: Be available
emotionally, be compassionate, limit media exposure, reassure safety, offer
distractions to prevent obsessive worry, monitor for angry outbursts and
depression and, if symptoms persist, seek professional help.
I imagine many parents were
thinking, instead, "It's a cruel world, evil is everywhere, watch your
back, and don't trust anyone."
After the Sandy Hook shootings there
was probably not one parent in the United States able to escape the tyranny of
imagining his or her child being killed in a neighborhood school. How many more
children will be taken before lawmakers devote energy and resources to
safeguarding our children?
Take steps to prevent gun violence
-- within the constitutional right to bear arms -- and provide adequate funding
for community-based mental health centers for the emotional well-being of all
of our children.
Andrew Malekoff, Long Beach
Editor's note: The writer is the executive director for the nonprofit
North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center in Roslyn Heights.
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