“What are we supposed to say to the kids?” A teacher asked me Wednesday morning when we arrived on campus. I knew immediately what she meant. News of the school shooting in Uvalde hit too closely to home for us as Central Texans, parents and educators. What are we supposed to say to the kids following something that is difficult for adults to understand? My journey to answering that very challenging question began almost 22 years ago. I began my career with a postdoctoral fellowship in child abuse and trauma in August 2000. Unbeknownst to us at the time, my fellow postdoc and I were 12 months away from being called upon to support children, parents, and teachers through the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Far too often in the intervening years, I have needed to dust off my child trauma psychologist toolbelt to help parents and teachers find ways to soothe their children’s fears while they themselves are grappling with big, heavy emotions. Here is what I know for sure: