Anxiety & Panic Disorders Health Center

Returning to Normalcy in Times of Stress

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When these acts occur, there is an increase in children misbehaving at school and home, Zager says. So besides doing things to maintain normalcy, like following your family's daily routine, parents and schools should stay mindful of the fact that a child's misbehavior may be a response to seeing this trauma on TV, he says.

Richard Leiby, a Washington Post reporter stationed in the Middle East, even does his part to maintain his state of normalcy. Between writing articles, he provides himself with stress relief by spending the first weekend of spring taking a swim, working out at the gym, and calling his college roommate, saying that the beach in Kuwait City reminds him of that in the sleepy Florida resort town where they both worked afterward.

Things definitely aren't normal in Kuwait, he tells WebMD. "But my advice is the same that I gave my son when I called him last week: Don't watch TV. Take a deep breath and relax. The war is going to happen whether you watch it or not. And you'll probably be better off if you don't."