6 Parenting Tips for COVID Times
If you’ve been safe and healthy throughout the pandemic, it may be tough to admit that things have been difficult, too: In fear of sounding ungrateful or unappreciative, we often act like we have it all together. But the reality is it's been an exceptionally challenging time for all of us—perhaps especially for parents.
Homeschooling while working from home and/or making sure your children are safe as you work from an office and your children attend school is a lot to bear. None of us have it all figured out, which is why hosts Dr. Alok Patel and Bethany Van Delft are here for you with pandemic parenting tips. Hopefully, these recommendations help keep you and your loved ones sane right now:
Translate public health guidelines into kid-speak.
Young children are inquisitive natural-born scientists. Though daunting, there is a way—depending on their age—to explain public health guidelines to them. Posing questions that paint a mental picture for your children and proposing simple guidelines that clear the air for an explanation (without creating an invisible “bogeyman” out of the virus) have worked well for her and her family, Bethany says.
Older children are tapped into their parents’ emotions and can sense stress and tension around trips to the grocery store or long weeks at home. Alok emphasizes the importance of having honest conversations with your adolescents and teenagers about what’s happening in the world: If you don’t explain it, their friends or the Internet will. Making sure your children have an understanding of how you are navigating the pandemic as a family unit creates a sense of cohesion, and keeps you all safer in the end.
Confront your child’s sadness head-on and with tenderness.
Have you noticed your child “acting differently?” You’re not alone. The lifestyle shift for a lot of children—especially those who engaged in a lot of extracurricular activities and social interaction—is very stark. Children may not always be able to articulate what’s really bothering them, but their behavior can reflect what they’re feeling inside. Talk about the sadness honestly and openly, Bethany suggests, and let your child know they’re not alone. Empathy is the best way to go, she says, because there really is no immediate solution to the way they feel.
Support young people with mental health difficulties.
Many children and teenagers are at risk for anxiety, depression, chronic stress, substance abuse, and other forms of mental illness right now, Alok says. Consider reaching out, offering support, and sharing mental health resources to your loved ones who feel like they are struggling with their mental health: “Nobody should be made to feel embarrassed, ashamed or alone when it comes to having any type of mental health issue. It’s part of the world right now,” Alok says. If your child is losing sleep or uninterested in their usual hobbies, he explains, it’s never wrong or too early to ask questions and reach out with help.
Along with these three recommendations, also consider working through stress in your adult relationships and introducing more structure in your household. And remember, different socioeconomic and lifestyle variants mean that what you need is specific to your family.
Ultimately, children are resilient and can get through pandemic-related challenges with your love and support.
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