When Family Radio host Harold Camping predicted the rapture would occur on May 21, marking the beginning of the end of the world, most adults (including most Christians) laughed it off; but some children weren’t laughing. Some doctors believe that kids, particularly younger kids, might’ve been pretty worried about Camping’s prediction. “It depends on how your children absorb media,” said Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson, a pediatrician in Seattle. “If they’re plunked down in front of the TV hearing ‘the end of the world’ a bunch of times and then seeing photos of the Missouri tornadoes, it may come together in their minds as something real and scary. Kids of preschool age have a hard time determining reality from non-reality, and their imaginations are on fire.” Most experts believe that a child’s likely reaction to the rumored rapture would be pretty dependent on their parents. “If your parents were making plans for the end of the world, it very definitely affected your life,” said Dr. David Fassler, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Vermont Medical School. (ABC News)
![](https://www.youthworker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/KidWorried.250w.tn_.jpg)