Fear, uncertainty, and all that a pandemic can be associated with are increasing with every passing day. While everyone around the world is struggling to overcome their anxiety and stress, the kids at home are feeling gloomy.
It is hard to keep children entertained all the time in the house. Since they have lost their routine to the pandemic, they have become more curious as to what is happening around them and why.
While it is important to keep kids safe and happy in-home, it is also important to not let go of teaching them how to manage their emotions and build resilience.
So to help you with this, we have sorted out a few tips from the American Academy that can help you in getting your kids through the stress in a pandemic:
Address Children’s Fears
First thing first, do not ignore the fears of your little ones. As much as a pandemic is affecting the adult brain, it is difficult for the kids to understand the whole situation as well.
Therefore, here are the following ways you can try to answer your children questions and fears:
Be honest about the pandemic: It is okay for children to understand what the world is going through. Since the pandemic happened, the country has seen many changes. Most of the changes completely shifted how we operated outlives in the pre-coronavirus days. Similarly, the kids have also experienced change due to the virus spread. From having their schools closed, to online education and maintaining social distancing.
All of these changes must have elicited tons of questions in the mind of your kids, so you need to address them all.
Along with that, make sure you teach your kids the importance of covering their mouths, washing hands, and staying home to play their part in curbing the spread of the virus.
Recognize your children’s feelings: The pandemic is hard for everyone. As much as you are missing, having your parties won your friends or having coffee at the café, your kids must have been feeling equally sad. So instead of ignoring their emotions, you should calmly address them.
For instance, if your kids are showing tantrums because you are not allowing them to have a stay at their friend’s place like they could do in the pre-coronavirus days. You should calmly explain to them why you are not allowing them to do the same as before and what harm it can cost.
Keep in touch: The pandemic has made the kids far from their grandparents, friends, and relatives. So what you should do is help your kids get virtually in contact with their loved ones. Help them understand how to talk to their grandparent on video calls.
Keep Healthy Routines
During the pandemic, it is more important to maintain a schedule. The time we live in is tiring and can often take a toll on your kid’s routine. But this is the time to maintain a healthy lifestyle during the pandemic. Here is how you can do it:
Limit Screen Time: The worst thing happening during the pandemic is the increased screen time. With limited things to keep the kids entertained at home, they are bound to have an increased screen time. However, you can make sure that your kids have limited screen time and also you do not have to monitor the content they re-watching.
You can simply do that by having a cable TV service at home. Preferably, the Spectrum cable TV service offers affordable packages that let you customize your channel line up.
The Spectrum offers Spectrum Select Package that will help you create affordable entertainment at home, for your kids.
Wake up and Bedtime Routine: Not going to lie, it is going to be hard for you to make sure your kids are back to bed on time and wake up on time, but you have to put in the effort.
Do Your best
The pandemic era is hard for everyone. But everyone is trying their best to pass through the scourge. Similarly, you too must give your best and put in efforts for the better future of our children.
Teach them the art of resilience and how to maintain discipline. It won’t be too easy to teach them all this while they are at home, but you should do your best.