Tragedy at the Elementary School: Loss of Innocence

Once again, chris cuomos a "20/20" continues with tragedy at the elementary school. Newtown, those who have lost their children, are loving them and their abagainst and those who are surviveded are... See More

Once again, chris cuomos a "20/20" continues with tragedy at the elementary school. Newtown, those who have lost their children, are loving them and their abagainst and those who are surviveded are loved more by their parents and no matter how many times we see the trage tragedies, in malls, movie theeters, we are puzzled by what to tell the children. How do we make them feel safe when at times the world can be so, so scary. My colleague debra roberts takes a look at how to help our children when they innocence is taken in the most violent way. We had an ambulance and a police officer come and I felt a little sick. I thought I was going to throw up. Parents may never be more important to their children they are today. They kept themselves calm in an unimaginable ki yatic situation so they could keep their children calm. What about tonight and over the weekend? How to help their children feel safe and come to terms with such a horrific event? The first thing the parents should say to their children tonight and this weekend, and they should repeat these things, they safe. This psychiatrist specializes in the issues. So many people affected by it. The shooting in oregon. The september 11th tragedy. And the people trying to process this and now you talk about children. It's universal. Every child in the united states goes to school. It's known as a safe place. It's a place of innocence. Tonight, parents are wondering, what do we say to our children? They should break the news to their children. This a fwlit tv should be off. They should be talking to their children. What do you not say? You don't share with them our fear. Our president spoke to us today and while he got a bit emotional and looked very sad -- our hearts are broken today -- he was very calm. And parents are sad and they can tell us how upset they are. But they cannot be hysterical. They can not sobbing. The only thing they will remember is the emotional. The group is trying to find their legs when it comes to independence. You will find children who want to sleep alone. The goal is to resume their normal normalcy. David noahs all too well the trauma of a school shooting. He j h just turned 14 when a classmate opened fire in paducah, kentucky, 15 years ago. The shoot her been at david's birthday party a couple months prior. What do you remember most? Just the chaos. I member setting in gym class and a girl came in running saying someone was shooting. What you do you go home and tell your kids tonight? There are bad people throughout who do evil things. We can't be afraid for our lives and hide. We have tro do our best to live our lives as normally as possible. Many of the kids at sandy hook may have a better chance at normalcy soon. The school had a plan in place. We started screaming and our teachers db somebody yelled, get So we went to the closette in the gym. You never know which school employee can prevent a death. Every teacher, every custodian has to be trained a empowered to make life or death decisions without being told to do so. He says everyone needs to be train whod identifies suspicious behavior. This training video helps school bus drivers spot a problem before it's too late. I will show you what happens when you mess with me. The staff needs tor look for cues. Concealed weapons will k be tough to pick up on. This demonstration shows how many guys can be hidden in closing. But a stiff theed walk that comes with a shotgun on a leg but it's too late. What is done in the first 30 seconds of a crisis will determine if we have no casualties or ten or 20 or 50 or 100. He jug jests to ask if have plan in place like from violence or fire or disaster. For the most part, they are doing their job. Schools are working diligently and they are getting better at preventing and responding but no measure is 100% effective. Tonight, a shattered community is coming together. This church service is a long road to healing. The reality is that 209 children are with the lord now. They have been taken too young, and too innocent. We just told a young boy about his sister. And just -- I have nobody to play with. You know. I can't imagine being one of the parents who lost a child tonight. I would definitely say that you need to go home and love your kids tonight. Because that's what I will be doing. There is no parent in this country who could even imagine what it could feel like to be in their shoes today. And those parents will -- will have to know as upset as they are, that they have the sympathy of the entire country, if not, the large part of the world with