UNICEF Denmark has issued advice on how to talk to children about Greenland after escalating geopolitical tensions and media coverage left many kids anxious in both Denmark and Greenland.
The headlines keep coming. US vice president J.D. Vance criticized Denmark from Greenland. Danish politicians clash over Arctic security policy. Children see the word “war” and “military attack” on social media. Then they ask questions their parents struggle to answer.
UNICEF Denmark knows this is happening. The organization has released practical guidance for families trying to navigate conversations about Greenland at a moment when the island suddenly dominates news cycles and schoolyard rumors alike. UNICEF Greenland has also contributed to national preparedness efforts, providing advice to adults in Greenland on how to address what children there are experiencing.
Why kids are asking now
The backdrop is real and messy. Greenland sits at the center of great power competition between the United States, Russia and China. The island’s strategic location, mineral resources and melting ice sheet make it geopolitically irresistible. Denmark’s intelligence service PET has warned of a sustained espionage threat from Russian and Chinese actors targeting decisions about the Arctic and critical infrastructure in Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
At the same time, Danish domestic politics have turned Greenland into a battleground. The Social Democrats and opposition parties are fighting publicly over whether the government is jeopardizing relations with the US and NATO through its handling of military exercises and security policy in the Arctic. Some European voices have questioned Danish moves in Greenland as potentially anti American. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has rejected that charge outright.
Children absorb this chaos without the tools to make sense of it. They hear fragments. They imagine worse.
The advice from UNICEF
As reported by UNICEF Denmark, the core message is simple. Do not leave children alone with their thoughts. Their imagination is often worse than reality.
For small children in preschool, the answer is equally simple. Shield them. They do not need to hear about threats of war or military conflict. That burden should wait until it becomes unavoidable, typically when they start school and begin encountering the world through classmates and their own reading.
For older children, avoidance is not an option. UNICEF recommends listening first. Ask what they have heard and seen. Let them set the agenda with their questions. Avoid turning it into an interrogation, but make clear you are available.
Then answer concretely. Nothing is worse than a child’s unchecked imagination. Short, clear explanations beat long lectures. There is no need to elaborate on dramatic events or pile on extra facts. Tailor information to the child’s age and what they already understand.
Acknowledge their feelings. Sometimes saying things out loud helps lighten the load, even when adults do not have all the answers. Never dismiss a child’s concern as exaggerated or ridiculous.
Screen time and social media
UNICEF stresses the need to monitor what children see online and on television. News runs around the clock. Social media churns out alarming snippets. Violent or dramatic content scares children because they lack the context to interpret it. Small children should not watch news at all. Older children should only watch with an adult who can help them process what they see.
I have lived here long enough to know that Danish parents often assume their kids are resilient and media savvy. They are not always. The same screens that teach them English and connect them to friends also bombard them with decontextualized images of conflict and crisis.
The Greenlandic children in the room
UNICEF also urges parents to consider whether their child knows classmates with family ties to Greenland. For those children, this is not abstract geopolitics. It is personal and immediate. Parents should tell their kids that this may be an especially difficult time for Greenlandic friends and to come forward if tensions arise in class or friend groups.
Greenlandic children in Denmark already navigate a complex landscape. The Danish Institute for Human Rights has documented that Greenlanders in Denmark face stereotypes, discrimination and social marginalization. Jokes and dismissive comments rooted in colonial attitudes still circulate in schoolyards. This moment of heightened attention makes that worse.
Parents should also explain that children in Greenland are receiving support right now. Let kids know there are adults working to protect them. UNICEF Greenland has distributed materials across the island with grounded advice for families facing uncertain times.
What this moment reveals
The fact that UNICEF felt compelled to issue this guidance tells you something. It tells you the anxiety is widespread. It tells you children are picking up on adult fear and confusion. It also tells you that the relationship between Denmark and Greenland remains unresolved in ways that spill into everyday life.
Denmark issued a formal apology in 2020 for a 1951 experiment in which 22 Greenlandic children were taken from their families and sent to Denmark for re education. Many lost their language and ties to home. Compensation followed years later. The so called Spiral Scandal, involving intrauterine devices inserted in Greenlandic women and girls without proper consent in the 1960s and 1970s, remains a live political issue.
These are not ancient history. They shape how Greenlanders experience Danish authority today. They shape how Greenlandic families in Denmark
