She told her mother about JonBenet and, says Koltun, had a couple of pretty rugged nights starting that evening. She was very anxious, very hard to put to bed. Jeff Dolgan, chief of psychology at Children's Hospital in Denver, says Ariana's reaction is common. Over the past few weeks, many of the kids he sees in his practice have had similar reactions. And it's very disturbing news for children to absorb.
Children are always more affected by something that happens to one of their own.
But with JonBenet's face staring out of magazine covers in every supermarket line and orthodontist's waiting room and with playground chatter being what it is, parents who want to keep their children in the dark face a futile task. Nevertheless, says Dolgan, it's best to handle problems as they arise. Don't give children more information than they can handle. Kids will be interested in only one or two details at a time. Let them metabolize that information, then stand ready to answer the next question, if you've got answers.