The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic is marked with uncertainty and anxiety with almost all the countries of the world in a lockdown. This crisis brings an overwhelming fear especially among the senior citizens and the children. Coping with the Coronavirus crisis is difficult especially with the children as they are accustomed to playing outside, thus social distancing and lockdown become difficult for them to comply.
The younger generation reacts to what they see from the adults in their family. When parents and other senior members of the house develop a calm approach, children are also calm and confident in dealing with COVID-19. In testing times like these, parents need to be more reassuring to their children, to ward off any feeling of stress, anxiety and uncertainty.
If your children are experiencing the following changes, watch out. They may be stressed, and anxious-
- Unexplained irritation and excessive crying
- Showing behaviours, which they have outgrown like bedwetting or toileting
- Sudden grumpiness, or sadness
- Sudden change in eating or sleeping habits
- Avoiding schoolwork and interaction
- Difficult to be attentive and concentrate
- Avoidance of activities which were enjoyed earlier
- Unexplained body cramps or headaches
Helping the Young Minds
Talking and Writing down
Let your young ones share their thoughts, anxiety, and stress by writing down their fears, sad thoughts or worries in a journal. Engage with a conversation and discuss it with them during the day. This way, you will know what your young ones think about the crisis
Explain Social Distancing
You need to explain to your kids that social distancing is not the same as social isolation. Lockdown like the present situation does not mean that the kids need to be distinct from their friends. Connect your children with their friends, over a video call. Encourage your kids to discuss their school tasks and homework with their classmates over a video call.
Contacting a Health Provider
If your child is showing symptoms of despair, anxiousness you may consider reaching out to a healthcare provider through the Gigadocs app. A good way will be to check if they can provide telehealth support with stress management therapy sessions.
Practice Distraction
In tough times like these, distracting your child’s minds can be helpful. Make family time more fun by adding creative activities like puzzle solving to engage kids. Plan a movie together, talk about your school days, let them know how you spent your childhood. Introduce them to the movies and shows you were glued to. Watch old sports shows together.
Build a routine
Though children are at home, don’t let them feel stressed, or develop anxiety with the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19. Experts believe that sticking to a fixed schedule is important. Make your kids sleep and get up at fixed timings, even lunch, dinner and social interaction timings can be scheduled.
Exercise together
Exercising together is a great stress buster, practice yoga, or mediation together. Let your children workout with you, you can try a stay at the home dance, yoga or fitness exercises like a cardio workout. Exercising together is a great way to make your children active, burn off energy for their next meal and rest.
Limit consumption of news
Staying informed is important but too much news does build up the stress and anxiety. Limit your consumption of news, and social media both of which are discussing COVID- 19, a potential trigger which could build anxiety, for your kids. A good tip is to turn the TV off. Or mute it and unfollow friends or co-workers who are sharing panic-inducing posts.
Winning the battle over Covid-19 crisis needs tough measures. Keep your children informed about the latest developments. Reassure them and be around them. Let them know that this is a passing phase, and everyone in the world is together in self-isolation. And you as a parent are taking precautions to be as safe as possible.
Stay Healthy, Stay Strong!
