An education expert’s plan for parents navigating climate anxiety in kids (when you’re scared too)

October 09, 2025

An education expert’s plan for parents navigating climate anxiety in kids (when you’re scared too)

As a child of the 80s, I spent a whole lot of time worrying about the ozone layer and admonishing my mother for her aerosol hairspray. But the concern was kind of amorphous. It’s not like there was some gaping hole you could see with a telescope, much less any on-the-ground evidence that concerned my 8-year-old self. And I certainly wasn’t missing school for wildfire smoke or being flooded out of my home on a near annual basis.

Fast forward to today as parents now have to explain climate change to our kids while simultaneously trying not to spiral into our own eco-anxieties. Yet here we are, canceling soccer practice because the air quality is in the red and having conversations about why it’s 80 degrees in October. Again.

If you’re feeling that weird cocktail of guilt, fear, and “how do I even talk about this?”—welcome to the club. The snacks are locally sourced, and we’re all just doing our best.

When normal worry crosses the line

Here’s the thing about climate anxiety in kids: some concern is actually healthy. Laura Schifter, founder of This Is Planet Ed and author of Students, Schools, and Our Climate Moment, explains that “worry, sadness, grief, and fear are all normal climate feelings.” So if your kid seems concerned after hearing about hurricanes or heat waves, that’s developmentally appropriate. They’re paying attention to their world, which is exactly what we want.

But there’s a line. Schifter notes that “the shift to problematic anxiety occurs when these feelings start to significantly impact your child’s daily life and functioning.” Watch for changes like loss of sleep, clinginess, overwhelming hopelessness, irritability, or losing interest in activities they usually love. If you’re seeing these signs consistently at home or school, it might be time to loop in your pediatrician or school counselor.

The good news? Schifter emphasizes that “parental support is a powerful protective factor in helping children process their feelings and build resilience.” Translation: you showing up and having these conversations—even the messy, imperfect ones—actually matters.

Stop trying to shield them (it’s not working anyway)

I know every instinct tells us to protect our kids from scary things. But Schifter’s advice might surprise you: “To support our kids, we must confront the reality that our children are living in a changing climate today and shift from trying to shield them from that reality to actively helping them navigate it.”

“Children will encounter climate-related issues whether through personal experience or hearing about it on the news,” Schifter explains. “As parents, we can leave them to process it alone, or we can create a safe space for honest discussion.” In other words: they’re going to hear about this stuff anyway—through social media, school, or literal heat days disrupting their routine. The question is whether they process it alone or with your support.

How to actually talk about it without freaking them out

Okay, but how do you have these conversations without accidentally transferring your own climate doom to your seven-year-old? Schifter has a framework that actually makes sense.

Keep it simple and solution-focused. Answer questions in straightforward ways, then immediately connect problems to solutions. If they ask about rising temperatures, talk about practical ways to stay safe—listening to our bodies, playing outside during cooler hours, staying hydrated. Give them agency, not helplessness.

Be learners together. Don’t know the answer? Perfect. “When you don’t know the answer to a question, you can work with your child to find the answer together looking for credible resources from experts,” Schifter suggests. This takes the pressure off you to be an encyclopedia and models that learning is ongoing.

Model action. This is huge. Kids need to see that adults are actually doing something. In your home, that might mean composting, installing solar panels, or taking public transportation. But Schifter emphasizes one thing every family can do: “Show our kids how to use our voice to advocate for solutions in our neighborhood, schools, and communities.” Let them see you call your city council member, attend a school board meeting, or organize with neighbors. “What we do individually matters, but what we do together with others matters even more.”

The four climate principles that actually work

Schifter’s Planet Ed developed four essential climate principles with The Nature Conservancy’s chief scientist Katharine Hayhoe that break this massive topic into kid-friendly chunks:

Earth is our home (with its perfect invisible blanket of gases)
Earth is getting hotter because of us (humans are making that blanket too thick)
Our climate is changing now, and that harms us (wet is wetter, dry is dryer, hot is hotter)
But together we can build a brighter future (through reducing impact, adapting, talking about it, learning more, and working together)

Use these as conversation starters. Let younger kids draw or play out solutions. Schifter shares that one four-year-old built a solar-powered spaceship with magnatiles. Her own daughters created fictional characters like “Nature Nina and Solar Sally” who make a difference in their schools. Make it creative, make it theirs.

When disaster disrupts everything

Here’s what to do when climate events actually impact your family’s routine—school closures for heat, evacuations for wildfires, whatever your region throws at you:

Ask questions. What have they heard? How are they feeling? Let them lead.
Answer their questions. Keep it simple, straight-forward and fact-based.
Validate everything. Worried, sad, scared—all of it is okay.
Look for the helpers. (Thanks, Mr. Rogers.) Show them people helping and taking care of each other.
Limit media exposure. Those images of burning homes and flooding streets can be traumatic for kids. Monitor what they’re seeing.
Re-establish routine. Even small things—regular bedtimes, family meals—help restore a sense of normalcy.
Take space for yourself. You can’t pour from an empty cup, and all that jazz. Actually true here.
Follow-up. Addressing these concerns is an ongoing conversation–and emotions are constantly changing.
Be the helpers. Finding ways to help your immediate community turns helplessness into empowerment.

Head, heart, hands: The framework that actually works

Schifter references climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe’s approach of connecting “head, to heart, to hands—a perfect framework for empowering families to choose action over fear.” Here’s how to put it into practice:

HEAD: Learn more. Take an active role in learning about climate change and solutions with your kids. Challenge your own misconceptions. Be open to learning something new. Remember, you don’t need to be an expert—you just need to be willing to figure it out together.

HEART: Talk about why you care. This is where it gets real. Share with your children why this matters to you. What do you love about Earth? What motivates you to care? These conversations connect the issue to your family’s values and show kids that caring about our planet is personal, not just political.

HANDS: Do something. Literally anything. The key is moving from worry to action, and there are so many entry points depending on what works for your family:

Adapt: Create emergency plans for extreme weather, check on neighbors during heat waves, identify cooling centers in your community
Energy: Look into solar panels, switch to LED bulbs, advocate for renewable energy at your kid’s school
Transportation: Carpool, use public transit when possible, walk to school, push for electric school buses (yes, you can actually do this)
Food: Try more plant-based meals, compost food waste, shop at farmers markets, reduce food waste
Manufacturing: Start a clothing swap at school, shop secondhand, repair instead of replace, support companies reducing their carbon footprint
Buildings: Consider heat pumps, switch that gas stove to induction (your lungs will thank you), improve insulation
Land-use: Plant native species, protect local habitats, spend time in nature as a family

The specific action matters less than the act of doing something. Pick what fits your life, your budget, your bandwidth. Then talk about it with your kids so they see that regular people—their parents—are part of the solution.

Your anxiety isn’t their anxiety

Here’s something important: your climate fears are probably different from your kid’s. Schifter notes that as parents, “we might feel sadness and grief about the fact that their childhoods are different from our own, like experiencing more heat days than snow days.” That’s your stuff to process—with friends, a therapist, your partner, your group chat.

“To process our own worries, we need to find our own safe spaces for conversations and break the silence on climate change,” Schifter advises. Write about it, talk about it with other adults, join a climate action group. Just don’t make your kid your emotional support human for your existential dread.

The bottom line

Will talking about climate change with your kids sometimes feel awkward and insufficient? Absolutely. Will you occasionally lie awake wondering if you said too much or too little? Probably. Are we all just figuring this out as we go? You bet.

But here’s what Schifter wants us to remember: “Ignoring the challenges we face won’t make them go away. But showing our kids that we care, that we understand, and that we are doing what we can to make a difference can help protect and preserve their security today.”

So take a breath. Have the conversation. Let it be imperfect. Your kids don’t need you to have all the answers—they need you to show up, acknowledge reality, and prove that together, we can do something about it.

And hey, if you need more support, check out Schifter’s resources at This Is Planet Ed, including their Planet Media YouTube channel with age-appropriate videos. Because none of us should be winging this completely alone.

For more resources on supporting children through climate anxiety, visit the Climate Mental Health Network, PureEdge, or read “Students, Schools, and Our Climate Moment: Acting Now to Secure Our Future” by Laura Schifter.

source https://www.mother.ly/health-wellness/childrens-health/climate-anxiety-in-kids/

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