I can't sleep

I went to bed late because I didnt feel like sleeping/knew I wouldnt be able to sleep.

I think your reaction is perfectly normal. I think there is comfort in being with other people at a time like this.

berry what has happened is frightening and chilling. But the one thing I won't give in to, is fear. I've been reading about how the ordinary people of Paris are standing "as one". I will never forget walking many miles into work in London the day after the July bombings 10 years ago, with a silent army of peaceful people refusing to be terrorised.

I worry about the division attacks like these cause, particularly with the migration problem. Of course this is one of the results that the terrorists are hoping to achieve.

Creating factions within France was surely one of the motives of the attack. It has all been so well planned with assumptions that all the attackers would die. Frightening.

It is the realisation it can happen to anyone at any time. These were ordinary people just doing the things people do on a Friday evening. It terrifies me that it can happen this way

My heart breaks for what those people went through. It is frightening, but must not be allowed to continue and to limit people's freedoms.

I was already in tears because of the stories on Children in Need when this news broke.
I too had a rough night, not least because Eagles of Death Metal are one of my favourite bands.

We should remember the innocent people in Syria , Afghanistan and Iraq who live with this fear every day . Will we ever learn violence breeds violence

Another insomniac here, still awake at 1.30, reading the BBC headlines at 3, the online newspaper at 5, and I finally got to sleep around 7. Hard to pin down, as it was not like London 7/7 where I was physically affected by fear for the immediate safety of DDs and friends , this was deep sorrow for Paris and for France, but also fear for all of our futures as I do not see how we can fight this.

I feel that these people are on drugs. No human could do this without them being out of their heads. Jihadi John for instance.

Drugs? No, just on a mission to kill.
Think what human beings can do ( and do) all the time.

Such extremism is a drug in itself. It becomes the only thing of value to the addict, to which everything else must be saxcrificed.

We must try NOT to feel that this terrorism is certain to win - that is their object - terror.

I agree Elegran planting the fear is often enough. What do we tell our little grandchildren though and how do we keep them safe when the world is going mad around us? My eldest DGD is 9. She is very clever indeed and often picks up on the worst of news stories. Having to explain something like this without putting the fear of god into her is really difficult.

Words cannot describe the action of the terrorists in Paris.There is NO justification for this horror it SO WRONG.

Personally I would tell her that this sort of thing only happens to a very very few amount of people. Really small.
That there are countries where this sort of thing happens more, but we are not one of them.

She doesnt need to know much more than that at that age in my opinion. Though each family handles things in their own way.

I read somewhere that newsround are tackling the subject for children, in a sensitive way.

She is not the kind of little girl to be fobbed off with half explanations soontobe and often follows answers with more and more questions which can be very difficult. Yes Newsround is very good at putting news across in a simple, easy to understand way. I know it sounds awful but sometimes it's easier when things happen very far away (my favourite cop out) but Paris is so close to home and she knows that, having visited a few times.

In response to marieeiliz and whether people that commit these horrors are on drugs, I apologise in advance if this is upsetting to read: but I have wondered about Jihadi John, in that it is documented that conflict can be a fertile ground for murderers to thrive in. There was a well-known case in South Africa of a killer in the 1990s who "hid" his crimes as part of the civil unrest in KwaZulu Natal at that time. He murdered more than a dozen people but it was only when he was captured and the forensic psychiatrists became involved that it became apparent that he was in fact a serial killer, operating in a particular environment conducive to killing people. Jihadi John - from what I have read - appeared to derive pleasure out of killing people.

Some of the footage I have seen on Sky about what happened in Paris is deeply saddening and berry yes, it can happen at any time.

Gilly It is horrific and my heart goes out to all those directly affected.
But your DGD will absorb what she can absorb, and she will be ok.
Children of all generations have lived with these fears and survived.
I was 6 at time of Suez and remember being terribly frightened.
Then in 1963 it seemed as though we would all be annihilated by nuclear bombs in a matter of days.

Of course I am not minimising the horror of Paris, just saying that most children and adults are resilient.

I too went to bed very late could not sleep thinking about the horrors of last night in Paris and the poor families who are suffering in hindsight its a great pity no bags were checked when these poor people went to the concert it might have saved quite a few lives I went to the theatre on Thursday and our bags were checked which was reassuring think security will be more vigilant and has to be.....