New Delhi, May 29 -- We are living in a time of conflict. As hard as it has been to deal with news of war-like situations being bombarded at us, things get a tad more difficult when you have to field questions on the topic from a child.

Discussing war with children is a lot like trying to explain why we pay taxes or discussing good touch-bad touch-complex, uncomfortable, but ultimately necessary," says Megha Joshi, clinical psychologist, department of clinical psychology, Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences, Delhi. "It is essential to acknowledge that children are perceptive and attuned to our emotional states which makes it imperative to regulate our own anxieties before initiating the conversation," she explains.

Dona Sin...