How to manage kids during the lockdown, follow social distancing and make them stay home? How to raise awareness in them and educate them about the present scenario?
The situation is so dicey that we will be facing its repercussions for a long time and making our kids understand the need of the hour has become one overwhelming task for parents. How do you protect them as well as educate them?
In this blog, I will try to share a few ways by which you can try to help raise awareness and also not pass your anxiety to your children.
How To Manage Kids During The Lockdown
Managing an extra load of work, working from home, taking care of every aspect, and managing kids has become a testing time for many parents, especially mothers, as they are on their toes to keep everything running and smooth. Here are a few hacks to stay sane while dealing with isolation for all of us.
Kids are fun-loving, curious, lively, energetic, and enthusiastic, they need constant food for their brains and their energy needs to be channelled in the right direction for them to explore and for us to save ourselves some sanity. With decreased mobility, increased lethargy, and sadness, they are bound to get irritated.
But amid this social distancing, loneliness, and isolation we as parents have been facing a tough time dealing with our kids as we have to make sure about their safety and not instill a sense of fear in them. How to manage kids during the lockdown? Here are a few ways or reminders from my side, to spread some awareness.
| 1.) Act carefully |
| 2.) Avoid discussions |
| 3.) Switch off the news channel |
| 4.) Look out for your tone |
| 5.) Do not panic |
| 6.) Spend quality time |
| 7.) Pretend it’s 90’s |
| 8.) Pre-internet era |
| 9.) Educate |
| 10.) Pay attention |
| 11.) Use online resources |
| 12.) Bring out creativity |
| 13.) Answer every question |
| 14.) Prepare them |
| 15.) Maintain a routine |
| 16.) Involve them in work |
| 17.) Keep a tab on media consumption |
17 ways to create awareness about social distancing among children
Most of the parents are doing their best to keep kids engaged by bringing out their creative juices. I will not give any gyan (tips) or DIYs and what fun or creative activities you can do with your kids as a lot of content on DIYs has been rolling over the internet. What I am going to talk about the awareness, education, and preparation for your kids.
How to manage kids during the lockdown? By spreading the awareness and educating them about the need for lockdown, education about how to deal with it, and prepare for the coming days. So here are my 17 ways which will surely help you to calm a little amid this whole panic situation.
1.) Act carefully
Kids are best at following us, whether we feel they are watching or listening or not, they are. If we act panicky or anxious in front of our kids about the present situation they will start to live in fear.
2.) Avoid discussions
I have observed that we all have been discussing a lot about this issue with family members and over the phone, with the lockdown and family staying together it is easy for kids to hear things while we speak. So try to avoid in-depth discussion in front of your children.
3.) Switch off the news channel
You should keep yourself updated and for that watch the news for a few minutes and have the latest updates return back to normal routine because hovering over the new channel and listening to the same news in the loop will only increase your level of anxiety and restlessness which you will pass on to your kids as well.
4.) Look out for your tone
While you talk about the lockdown, isolation, and social distancing, watch out for your tone, if you sound fearful or angry your kids will start fearing too and we do not want to scare them, do we? We don’t do these things knowingly but unconsciously we do it often.
5.) Do not panic
Please make a note of this point, do not panic and become agitated love the present scenario, I know for someone who has gone through this closely or any of your family members has been affected it will become too much to handle but if your kids get scared then it might inflict a deep sense of fear in them which will remain within them for a long time and result in mental distress in an early age.
6.) Spend quality time
I am sure you all are already doing that but just reminding you that this is the time we all have been craving, I know we cannot go out, travel and enjoy ourselves but we can do a lot of things at home and all our children need from us is time, which we can give to them in abundance at this moment.
7.) Pretend it’s 90’s
Do you remember how we used to enjoy it when we were in the 90’s era? We were very happy than the kids are today. We used to enjoy little things and value all the efforts made by our parents. Today is the time to bring back those lost values in our kids, by sharing our stories and playing indoor games together.
8.) Pre-internet era
How to manage kids during the lockdown? Can you imagine the pre-internet era today? Imagine our life without the internet and you will get jitters, but I would still suggest keeping your phone and laptops aside for some time daily and spending some no-screen time with family and having real conversations.
9.) Educate
Although there are plenty of learning apps available for kids it is important that we educate our kids and make them understand to trust the news only from the verified source, especially our teenage kids who use mobile phones. It is very important that we make them aware of how spreading rumors and negative news can create havoc and panic among people.
10.) Pay attention
Keep a close tab on your kids, the ones who used to go out, and hang out with friends, and now dealing with complete isolation might make them feel irritated and anxious. How to manage kids during the lockdown? Pay attention to them, and check on their activities and behaviors without being much suspicious.
11.) Use online resources
There is an ample amount of online courses available on the internet. We can use this time to help them upgrade or learn a new skill. Opt for an online class and keep them occupied.
12.) Bring out creativity
You might not be good at art and craft, it doesn’t matter as we have so many options these days, just pick up a tutorial of your interest and do some fun activity together, as basic as palm painting or finger painting. Your kids will love it.
13.) Answer every question
It is natural to have a lot of questions and you might get irritated about answering them but if you won’t answer them they will try to find the answers themselves and then you won’t have control over their thought process, so make sure you answer each and every question related to the pandemic and assure them on how things will be normal soon.
14.) Prepare them
This situation was uncalled and unwarranted but now we are going through it. So what next? How will be life after the lockdown is over? Will we be roaming freely or would we be required to stay a little cautious? Prepare them for the next step, and educate them so that they feel responsible.
15.) Maintain a routine
You had a routine before and just after the lockdown things lost their rhythm. Please try to maintain a new routine, it is a matter of time before your old normal gets replaced with a new normal and we become accustomed to the new arrangements, humans are programmed that way.
16.) Involve them in work
How to manage kids during the lockdown? Allot work and share the load and involve them in household chores. It will keep them engaged and you will also benefit from their help. You can try fireless cooking with the younger ones and a lot of laundry and dusting for the elder ones. This way everybody feels equally responsible for overcoming together in the present situation.
17.) Keep a tab on media consumption
It is very important that you keep a watch on their watch list. News, rumors, and fake information can misguide them and they can get anxious. Also, you need to make sure that they don’t end up in the wrong place just for the sake of getting away with isolation.
Ways to stay sane while dealing with your kids
How to manage kids during the lockdown and how to stay sane while dealing with them? It is very important that we maintain our composure while dealing with our children. These are testing times for all of us and we as humans are bound to get agitated, anxious, and irritated due to the pandemic and its shortcomings we are dealing with, daily. Dealing with kids, on the other hand, needs a lot of attention, and patience and keeping them engaged has somehow become a challenging task for parents. Amid all this and a lot, how to take care of our own sanity?
- Take one day at a time, do not overthink, and trouble yourself by thinking about what is going to happen next.
- Structure your day, and form a routine even if you are under lockdown, your life should not stop.
- Remember, all this is temporary and this will pass soon.
- Try to keep yourself engaged in different activities, which will help you divert your mind.
- Exercise, focus on quality sleep and drink a lot of water
- Keep a personal check on your dear ones.
- Take some time for personal care.
In the end, I would say that we all are doing our best in our capacities in order to survive this storm, and trust me we will get over this soon as I said in my last blog, this all will be gone and one day we will be remembering this and talking about it, sharing stories of our tough times. Please stay home, stay safe and stay sane.
