With new information coming in every hour on the current outbreak of novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, and schools shut down across Ohio for the next three weeks, there’s a lot to consider when deciding how to explain what’s happening to your kids. Dr. Emily Mudd, Cleveland Clinic Children's pediatric psychologist, gives us four ways to carry the conversation forward while staying positive and proactive in a developing situation.
Let Your Child Guide The ConversationThe goal is to know what your children are feeling, reassure them and validate their anxieties in an effort to keep them calm. Start by asking what they’ve heard, then scale back and break down the myths from the facts. “We really want to bust some of the myths they might have heard or calm their anxieties right away before we start telling them things we know or things we may be anxious about,” says Mudd. “It opens the door to take something that sounds very big and scary and make it very small.”
Create A Structured Day
Children respond to stress in different ways, but it’s incredibly important to set aside some sort of structure such as activities, learning opportunities, meals and more that keep children engaged and invested. “We want life to go on in the home as close to normal as possible,” says Mudd. “Children who are used to structure will thrive in an environment when there’s predictability even when everything has changed.”
Create Positive Coping Mechanisms
Host a family meeting and decide together what’s important for everyone in this time of need. “You’re providing them other emotions to experience other than anxiety,” says Mudd. “You can make cards for isolated elders in the area. You can teach them different games they may not know. One of the things we’ve been talking about is if you can use face paint for your child when you’re talking about the importance of not touching your face, you see how much they touch their face over an hour with the face paint — things like that, that makes it fun for your kids while you’re teaching them and providing structure.”
Filter The News And Try To Focus On The Positive
Be sure to explain how hard experts and doctors are working to solve this ongoing epidemic and celebrate the small victories as they arrive. In addition, decide when it’s important to turn off the TV. “There is such a thing as having too much information,” says Mudd. “News media is made for adults and children do not have the social and cognitive ability to be able to translate that information to their developmental understanding. Parents really need to be the median to the children receiving this information. While your children are at home, don’t leave the TV on all day. I would recommend not having your phone in your bedroom at all at night, and really monitor the information your children are receiving.”