If doomsday news stories scare you, imagine how your teen feels

Imagining the worst as a teenager. (thinkstock images)

Solar storms. UFO's and government cover-ups. Terrorism threats. Total internet shutdown. If these topics making headline news this week freak you out, imagine what they're doing to your teenager.

Alarmist news stories are designed, in part, to stop you from doing your work and get you clicking. As adults, we're able to balance the fantastical fear with the present reality. The world isn't exploding this second, the media is designed for deep impact, and if you don't finish this task right now you'll get fired and your personal world actually will explode. So we go on.

It's a skill we developed over time. (It may have taken me longer than most.) We've witnessed the build-up to Y2k, and the anti-climax. We've lived through the living nightmare that was September 11th. There have been black-outs, wars, and countless end of world predictions in the past twenty years alone. And while they're all life-altering you develop a thicker skin, and an ability to move forward with the mundane.

But not if you're a teenager or a pre-teen. In the recent past, online teen forums are flooded with topics like "2012" and "Surviving the end of the world". The panic became so troubling, NASA released a statement that the world won't end in two years, to quell the paralyzing fears of teenagers across the country.

"Teenagers are more prone to responding to an event," says Dr. Charles Sophy, a child psychiatrist who has researched causes of nightmares in children. "As they emancipate from families, they start to have separation anxieties." Catastrophic news, the kind that makes you think about fending for yourself, triggers those anxieties.

As a grown-up who's closer to a teen than a parent on the maturity spectrum, I can relate. Catastrophic news has sent me spiraling into a panic since I turned 10. But growing up with constant access to panic-inducing news has got to make young people's imagination do somersaults.

While each child is different, Sophy notes that your teen's EQ (emotional quotient) may be an indicator for how they handle these kinds of news stories. "If your 15 year old is still into Legos or the toys he liked at 12, then he's more prone to be more affected," says Sophy, author of the parenting book, "Side by Side." "He hasn't yet built up an emotional response to separate fantasy from reality."

The good news is that these traumatizing topics are good way to help your kid mature. The trick is knowing how to talk about them. If only my poor parents had these handy tips when I was growing up.

1. Talk it out at dinner
Blocking your teenager's access to alarmist internet stories isn't going to ease their fears. What is, says Sophy, is helping your kid process them. "The dinner table is a good place to lay the foundation for these kinds of discussions. There's enough time, before bed so they won't have nightmares. And it's a place that's established as a supervised, and safe family dynamic." When you kid is reading news online, the authority figure is the journalist. But at the dinner table, you're the one with the answers.

2. Don't dismiss their fears
Ever have those nightmares as a kid where there's a house fire but nobody believes you? That's a small scale of what your teenager may be feeling: they know the truth and no one believes them. There's a simple fix: listen to them. "They need to know their being heard, and their opinion is valued," says Sophy. "If you treat them like adults, they'll start to think more like adults."

3. Ask questions
The more questions you ask, the more they'll be able to explore a topic, that might just be festering like a knot in their brain. Think of it like a mental massage. "Listen to your child's take on 2012 or the Solar storm and engage them,"says Sophy. "Ask them whats the worst that could happen? How should we protect ourselves?" Just talking it all out, brings the panic down and allows your kid to feel more in control. And lack of control is what the fear is really about, says Sophy.

4. Give them tasks
Come up with ways to prepare for potential disaster. "A lot of kids worry about global warming, so in that case, parents can let their kids green their homes," says Sophy. "If they're afraid of a terrorist attack or earthquake, assign them the role of preparing a family emergency pack." In the case of a solar storm or a UFO, the trick is not to block your kids from following the story, but to help your kids research all sides. "Offer to look at a couple of sources so you can both be informed, and formulate an opinion together. This is your chance to take the power away from the news authority and back into your own hands. It's also a good way to find common ground with your teenager."

5. Don't panic
"Parenting begins with you," says Sophy. "You have to appear solid and calm about these issues yourself." Kids are particularly sensitive to a vulnerable situation. When a parent is unsure, they can sense the lack of security and they can react with panic. It's kind of like when you're on an airplane, experiencing turbulence. The old rule of thumb is if the flight attendants are still calm, then you can be too. Note: The flight attendants always appear calm. No matter what.