Panic and fear that followed Christchurch massacre are still having their effect on the lives of preschool kids whose family life was terribly shocked two weeks ago, Stuff reported.

“Everyone in our immigrant and refugee community knew someone lost or injured,” said Jocelyn Wright, director of Christchurch’s Hagley Community Preschool.

It all started on March 15 at 1.45 pm when the lockdown siren rang and teachers took children to the safe zone.

“There was no panic although you could see the looks of concern on the faces of adults,” Wright said.

This all changed after the first father who escaped the massacre at the mosque rang out to pick his kid.

“That’s when reality first hit us all,” Wright added.

Terrorist Brenton Harrison Tarrant killed 50 Muslim worshippers in Friday’s attacks as he targeted Al Noor and Linwood mosques.

Hagley Community Preschool has 37 children on its roll, many of whom come from refugee and immigrant families.

Struggle

The preschool is one of the dozen early childhood centers that have been hit hard by the Christchurch terror attack, which left 50 people dead and 50 more injured.

To help the community, teachers rallied to provide support to the affected families, picking up several affected children at their home each morning, then driving them to the hospital to be with their mother at their father’s side at the end of the day.

“We’re keeping as much normality and consistency as possible. We haven’t needed to explain a great deal. We talked about the police being there for their safety, helicopters here to keep everybody safe,” Wright said.

“It’s the adult world that’s been shattered and parents are on edge a bit more. There’s a sense of disbelief and sadness that that’s happened.”

In Kidsfirst Edmonds Smith Street, the situation was much worse losing the youngest victim, three-year-old Mucad Ibrahim. Eleven more kids have also lost their fathers, grandfathers, uncles, former students, and friends.

“I’m just so proud of our teachers – they have done an amazing job,” Kidsfirst chief executive Sheryll Wilson said.

How to Help

In addition to processing the New Zealand tragedy for themselves, concern about the young Muslims’ emotional trauma hearing about these events plagues Muslim parents.

Talking to children about tragedies like natural disasters, mass shootings, and terrorist attacks can be difficult.

Many children may experience fear, shock, anger, anxiety, and grief, so it is essential for parents to prepare to have conversations with their children.

Young Muslims may experience different levels of emotional trauma when learning about the targeting and murder of Muslims.

For more information on dealing with Islamophobia trauma, check this article.