Climate change affects all of us. Your children may have concerns. You want to be able to talk to them about it without affecting them with your own anxiety.
Tell your children the truth but frame it with hope. We have the ability to act on climate change right now. Many of the things we can do to help the planet improve our own lives in the short term. Advocacy by young people brings attention to the concerns.
Work to empower your children to do what they can to improve conditions.
Listen to this encore episode from January 2020 as Dr. Aparna Bole, Chair of the AAP Council on Environmental Health, joins Melanie Cole, MS, to discuss how to talk to your kids about climate change.
Encore Episode: How to Talk to Your Kids About Climate Change
Featuring:
Dr.Aparna Bole
Aparna Bole, MD, FAAP, is Medical Director of Community Integration at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, OH. She leads efforts to build close
partnerships with community organizations and stakeholders to enhance the well-being of patients and families at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s and MacDonald Women’s Hospitals, and supports innovation in women’s and pediatric primary care delivery.
She is particularly interested in the intersection between environmental sustainability and pediatric public health. She serves as chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Environmental Health, on the board of Healthcare Without Harm (as co-chair), and is a founding advisory council member of the Ohio Clinicians for Climate Action.