News of the COVID-19 outbreak is everywhere. You can see many updates from the front page of the newspaper to the neighborhood meetings. With the ongoing stressful battle, perhaps you, as a parent, want to know how you can talk about the disease with your kids in a way that it provides reassurance and does not increase the children’s worry. Good thing there are ways to do that. Here are some pieces of advice on how you can talk to children about the Coronavirus.

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Don’t Be Afraid To Discuss The Negativities Of The Disease

Your kids might probably hear about the virus. Perhaps they already asked you a question of why a lot of people are wearing a mask. That is because kids already know something is up, and they want the details of what is entirely happening. As a parent, you must let them know. Do not be afraid to tell them the negativities of the situation. Yes, it can add worry and fear to their minds. But not talking about it may be worse because the kids might feel left out. Thus, they will worry and become more curious. It can lead to the children not following safety measures too. Therefore, use the opportunity to discuss facts with the children and allow them to internalize the situation. That way, you can avoid kids from getting too emotional and exaggerated.

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Be Developmentally Appropriate In Stressful Situations

As a parent, you have to tell kids the situation of the pandemic. However, you must note not to share too much information all at once as it can become too overwhelming for children. So what you need to do is answer their queries clearly and honestly. Avoid sugar-coating the situation because kids might suffer from an emotional burden once they find out that you are lying to them. But it is also okay if you don’t have answers to all their questions. Just tell them honestly that you don’t know anything about it. To have a meaningful exchange of conversation, you can invite your kids and ask them about the things they have heard from who or whatever sources they have. From there, explain the situation and tell them whether the information they get is accurate or not.

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Take Things Slowly But Surely

Discussing the pandemic situation with kids is not only for them to know what is happening around them. But also, for you to correct whatever false information they currently hang onto. It would be best if you allowed the kids to understand that only facts are acceptable and helpful in terms of dealing with the situation right now. Just remember never to ask them questions that can encourage frightened imagination and fantasies. You need to talk to them and give them information one at a time. Do not overflow the kids with the unnecessary details that might not help in dealing with the situation. Also, be consistent in the way you communicate. Use a soft voice and avoid answering kids’ questions with “maybe.”

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Deal With Your Own Mental And Emotional Issues First

You may feel anxious and stress due to the pandemic’s uncertainties. But what you want to do is make sure that you are calm before discussing the situation with your children. You must avoid having a conversation with the kids when you notice that you are feeling a little distressed and anxious for a particular time. It is essential to deal with your emotional and mental issues first before dealing with your children. That way, they will not feel tense or scared. Provide them a comfortable environment and focus on keeping them safe.

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There are a lot of questions right now that a mom like you particularly has about COVID-19. Perhaps you are also one of those parents who are currently experiencing a different level of stress and anxiety due to the situation’s uncertainties. Understandably, you are worried about your family’s safety, especially your kids. That is because they are the most emotionally, physically, and mentally vulnerable during this pandemic time.

About the news you get from the media, you are aware that most infected individuals of the virus are the elderly. Maybe that puts you in a safe level of anxiety, thinking that children have a low risk of getting the Coronavirus infection. However, it does not entirely secure any kids’ health. That is because you only have a limited amount of data of those infected people. And that data is insufficient since you do not get a first-hand experience of what these virus-positive people are going through.

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For sure, you are even unaware that perhaps some of the people around you already have the virus. However, the data of those children with underlying conditions that are at potential risk of obtaining an infection might cause an alert. Some of these conditions that can put children at significant risk are asthma, lung disease, neurological conditions, and so on. So even if you think that children are out of the bracket of potentially being at risk of the illness, you might want to reconsider your assumptions concerning those who suffer from underlying health situation.

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Keeping Children Safe

All people are aware of the public health message that the government and World Health Organizations is providing. That is the reason why all of us are practicing social distancing, even the kids. However, as a mom, the responsibilities don’t stop after you teach your children the things they have to do during this global health crisis. Yes, you can often remind the kids always to wash their hands frequently, cover their mouths, and physically distance themselves from other people. But unfortunately, that is not enough.

Telling kids what they don’t and have to do during this time is challenging. That is especially if that is something that contradicts their intensely social nature. Children understand the situation, and they know the risk of getting an infection. However, not all of them are capable of following strict guidelines. Not all kids can participate in a stringent line of measures because most of them depend on interaction.

So in case that you put pressure on the children’s way of managing the situation, it becomes a problem. That is because instead of you securing their safety, you become the reason for their emotional and mental instability. Perhaps as a mom, you can say that this particular situation is not providing any benefits for you and to your family in a whole lot of instances. Honestly, everyone can agree to that.

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Takeaway

So far, the one bright spot of this global health crisis is that children do not appear to be severely affected by the Coronavirus infection.  Some of these kids only suffer mild symptoms of the disease due to their young, healthy immune system. But as a mom, you should not let yourself become overly confident about that. The virus is still spreading to other people, and kids’ are not exempted from getting that.

To keep your family and kids safe during this pandemic time, all of you in the house must understand the importance of the necessary habits you should do regularly. Remind yourself always to be safe than sorry.

The 2017 Preschoolers Conference was educational, especially for parents of preschoolers like me. It was all about building the injury-free community for our dear children. For me, it is an eye-opening symposium because I have learned that there can be actions to take as far as the safety of our children is concerned. Though injuries and accidents may be inevitable, especially for children, it is still uplifting to know that certain people are concerned about minimizing these accidents from happening.

I am very thankful to our dear pediatricians and preschool teachers for coming up with an activity like this. I strongly support the idea that making a safe haven for our children is the parent’s responsibility. But as our kids get older, it becomes a shared responsibility with the teachers unless we aren’t letting our child go to school.

Coming up with safe outdoor activities is an excellent way for our child to enjoy childhood and not dread having to go to school every day. Through this conference, I have realized that you can let them play outside without jeopardizing their safety. Maybe after some coloring session inside the room, you can introduce some activities outside the classroom but still inside the school premises.

It is a refreshing thought that educators, community leaders, physicians, firefighters, public health professionals, and law enforcers are coming together hand in hand to discuss how important it is to create an injury-free community for our children. I have realized that as parents, we should not use these authorities to scare our children whenever we want to discipline them. We can instead introduce these authorities to our children as someone they can run to when things go wrong outside. But of course, parents are the main disciplinarian or caretaker, so as much as possible, we should be there for our children most of the time, especially during their preschool years because this is the time when they have the most questions and are easily vulnerable to some unwanted accidents.

Dealing with anxious toddlers is difficult because toddlers are ten times worse than ordinary babies who have tantrums. They have anxiety issues in potty training, eating, listening, and obeying. Toddlers easily meltdown all the time, and that’s because they are so emotional. They don’t know how to control their feelings.

According to Erin Leyba, LCSW, PhD, “Some kids experience anxiety more than others. About 15-20% of kids are born with a more anxious temperament (the amygdala part of their brains are more reactive to novel stimuli from the start).”

As a parent, you will want to do everything to help your child. However, Clark Goldstein, PhD points out, “When children are chronically anxious, even the most well-meaning parents can fall into a negative cycle and, not wanting a child to suffer, actually exacerbate the youngster’s anxiety. It happens when parents, anticipating a child’s fears, try to protect her from them.”

So how do you parent an anxious toddler? Let’s talk about the tips I’m going to share. Here are some broad strokes that are important for you to remember when it comes to parenting.

Teach Them To Express Their Feelings 

Toddlers can’t express feelings just like that. Even if you think you know your kid, you don’t. Also, although they have a fantastic vocabulary and can directly tell people what’s on their mind, it doesn’t mean they can already figure out their anxious emotions. As a parent, you can teach them how to express their feelings so they won’t get used to melting down.

Encourage Them To Fight Fears

Letting your toddlers handle stressful situations is good. However, it doesn’t mean you have to throw them into things and expect them to do it when you tell them to. That way, instead of helping kids achieve stable mental and emotional states, you’re only adding pressure and stress. Alternatively, let them discover the things that scare them, provided that you’re going to guide them along the way. You have to be there with them and show them how it’s supposed to get done.

“All too often we teach kids to take deep breaths and to get their “minds off their worries” instead of teaching them how to defeat those thoughts,” explained Natasha Daniels, LCSW. “Distraction only go so far. Parents need to get to the root of the worry and pull out that weed.”

Let Them Explore Their Feelings

It’s usual for some parents to become over-accommodating, but it doesn’t help at all. It only enables toddlers’ anxiety throughout their behavioral, emotional, and mental development. When you don’t allow them to experience agitation, anger, and pain, they will have a difficult time differentiating it from other emotions. Don’t stop them from learning just because you are too afraid that they might get hurt. They need to understand that sooner or later, they will eventually experience the challenges in life.

Acknowledge Their Emotions

When you tell toddlers to get up there and stand on their own, you’re not doing the right thing. You might think that it’s helpful in teaching your child independence, but it’s not. It will only make them feel pushed and feel betrayed. In fact, when you ask toddlers the things that scare them, what gets them mad, and what makes them sad, they won’t be able to answer it in detail. They will have problems connecting their experiences with those questions. As a parent, you need to acknowledge their emotions and know their capabilities as well.

With sensitive and anxious toddlers, the emotions are uncontrollable. The sooner they can tell you that they feel scared, sad, and angry, the more significant changes you can figure out what to do. These tips are not exactly mind-blowing, but all of these are important in handling your baby properly. Do not risk your child’s overall health. Show them the importance of getting out from their comfort zone, and be there to assist them with their needs.