Coping with kids in lockdown

Some parents are finding managing children at home during these challenging times difficult to cope with, others are coping well and finding the extra time with their children is helping the family to grow closer. The World Health Organisation has published a few tips to help parents manage.

1. Plan one on one time with each of your children: Focusing on one child at a time can develop and nurture relationships, whilst fostering a sense of protection and belonging.
2. Stay Positive: Although staying positive is sometimes easier said than done in these unprecedented times, children respond much better to positive reinforcements and attitudes. Talk with your children about the pandemic, as education can help them learn and understand .. removing doubts or fears.
3. Creating a daily routine: Even though it appears they would rather spend their days with no rules in place, children respond well to boundaries and routine. Create a daily calendar of events.. whether they be normal everyday things like meal times and bathing or special family time activities like craft or watching a movie. You can then use this schedule to plan your own work or activities, so your children are aware of your own routine and can learn to understand a team or family environment.
4. Managing stress and avoiding bad behaviour: The points above will help foster stress free environments and consequently assist with altering behaviour patterns in children. Following up on consequences for behaviour is important to develop respect for rules and outcomes for their actions.
5. Schedule fun; Children just want to have fun .. play and creation is a great way to manage stress in children and foster relationships between siblings and parents. Schedule time in their daily or weekly routines for some fun. It can be as simple as having a cooking competition using a few particular ingredients, or playing charades. Filming your activity and then watching it back, creates a sense of being and self awareness in children.