WASHINGTON - Kerri Reddick-Morgan lives a solidly middle-class life. She has a master's degree, a good job as a marketing director for a nonprofit group, and rents a nice townhouse in Woodbridge, Va. But as major investment banks and markets around the world have come unglued, she has had to reassure her anxious children that their world has not.

Ten-year-old Kamar thinks he might not have kids when he grows up, in case he can't find a job.

Eighteen-year-old Andrew has become so stressed about paying for college next year that he has started referring to it as "the C-word." And hearing about failing banks, 12-year-old Kaise wondered whether her babysitting money would disappear from her savings account. Time to explain FDIC insurance, Reddick-Morgan said.

"The only calming thing I could do was to tell her, 'You don't have over $100,000 in your bank account, so your money is fine,' " Reddick-Morgan said. "That is not a conversation I thought I would ever be having with my 12-year-old."

A survey of 500 U.S. teenagers found that almost 70 percent feared an "immediate negative impact" on the security of their families. "That's a gigantic figure," said Michael Cohen, a research psychologist who runs the opinion research firm that conducted the poll. Unless parents can help restore a child's sense of security, many might wind up with stomachaches, begin acting out, or lose interest in school, child psychologists say.

For some children, the fear is far more overwhelming.

Alexandria, Va., resident Adelfa Ramirez cleans homes, and her husband is a carpenter. Business for both has dropped dramatically. The family is about to lose its home to foreclosure. Her 15-year-old has offered to forgo his allergy medication and get a job.

"He wants to work to help us, but I told him: 'No. Not yet,'" Ramirez said in Spanish. "For me, it's far more important that he prepare himself intellectually so that he can go to college."

But even children not in crisis "pick up the mood, the tension, the anxiety - there are no secrets in families," said Stanley Greenspan, professor of child psychiatry and pediatrics at George Washington University, who has started to see the economic anxiety show up in his Washington practice. "Younger kids tend to be all-or-nothing thinkers. So a healthy 8-year-old is more likely to worry in a more extreme way than an adult."

That's certainly true of Kamar, who told his mother that if they needed money, he could sell his iPod.

Greenspan, author of The Secure Child, said that at times like these, parents needed to ask their children how much they know about what's going on, then answer questions in an age-appropriate way. They need to find ways for their children to help.

Reddick-Morgan has used the crisis to reinforce the importance of faith, family and education.

"The only thing that matters is who you are and how you treat people," she told them. "Money - you can't take it with you. You have to believe that no matter what happens, God is going to take care of us."