Children's responses to stressful events are discussed in this paper. The paper describes children's feelings about and reactions to death, divorce, hospitalization and parent imprisonment. School phobias are also discussed. Age differences in reactions to these crises are described and discussed in terms of general cognitive development and developmental stages. It is suggested that adults can help children cope with crisis situations by providing accurate information, by encouraging the expression of feelings and by managing their own feelings and attitudes towards these same events. The paper also describes ways in which outside supportive services, teachers, initial family relationships and family life education can affect the child's responses to a crisis situation. (BD)