Kids Frightened About the Predicted Apocalypse

There is a lot of talk about the end of the Mayan calendar on Friday, December 21st along with predictions that this coincides with the end of our world.  NASA astrobiologist David Morrison has received thousands of questions about the potential doomsday.  Some of the concerned questions come from children.  Children who have access to watching TV shows and YouTube videos claiming that the end of the world is near are especially vulnerable.
During an interview on NPR Morrison said "But I am so sorry for the people, especially young people that are really scared. And I don't know what I can say. I can tell them the facts, the science, that it's all just a fantasy. But you know, if the kids' friends in school are telling them the world is going to end, if they turned on the TV and it says the world is going to end, it's pretty scary."
Children are susceptible to believing what they see on TV or in videos.  It looks and sounds convincing so they think it’s probably true.  If you have kids who may have been exposed to these ideas about an apocalypse, take the time to talk to them about why these types of predictions are popular and why everything they see on TV or videos isn’t necessarily true.