When a natural disaster strikes, we often think of children as the most vulnerable of victims. Picture families forced to evacuate during a wildfire, or kids forced to take remote classes for months during the pandemic.
A University of Colorado researcher says this thinking may be too simplistic – that it overlooks the ways children help out during and after a disaster, and the importance of letting kids help respond to a chaotic world.
Lori Peek is a sociology professor and director of the Natural Hazards Center at CU Boulder. She studies how communities respond to natural disasters, and she’s particularly focused on how children help out…