Posted on March 6, 2001 at 2:24 p.m.

STORY:

The March 5 mass shooting at a San Diego-area high school is the latest in a string of such incidents across the nation. As the nation searches for answers for the rash of school shootings, family counseling expert William Crunk, Ph.D., at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s School of Education, has searched for ways parents can help their children cope in an increasingly violent world.

WHO:

Crunk is an associate professor at UAB. He has directed the SAFER Parenting Program, a study group that counsels parents on raising compassionate children by emphasizing spirituality, ability, fairness, encouragement and responsibility.

WHAT:

“Children are exposed to media that frequently portray violence as a means of settling disputes,” says Crunk. So what’s a parent to do? Crunk, has these suggestions:

• Watch your own behavior. “Parents need to model methods of solving problems other than violence. We have a high rate of divorce in American involving a great deal of anger and we see a lot of parents who don’t know how to resolve conflicts any other way.”
• Monitor aggression in your children. “At an early age, two to four years, children need to be monitored for signs of aggressive behavior. There are ways we can help parents prepare for this even before the birth of their children.”
  
  
• Set Limits. “We’ve found that aggressive children often are given too much freedom and power without having the maturity to handle it.”