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Managing and Caring for Children/ Young people in Social Isolation
Managing and Caring for Children/ Young people in Social Isolation
The advice for parents at the moment is no different to any other situation where young people are inundated with overwhelming ‘adult-world’ information. It's a challenging time for everyone, but parents in particular. At times like this, it's easy to let anxiety take over. But it's our responsibility as the adults to communicate to our children - verbally and nonverbally - that we can and will do our best to keep them stable and secure.
It’s important to watch out for the variety of ways your child could respond to stress: If you feel you can’t manage this with them seek professional help. Some signs might be:
Sudden change in behaviours.
Regression to earlier states of development
Excessive worry or sadness and reassurance seeking
Unhealthy eating or sleeping habits
Irritability or acting out
Avoiding activities they once enjoyed
Avoiding contacting their friends
Difficulty in attending and concentration
Unexplained headaches or body pain (physical symptoms in the absence of a medical condition)
What you can do to help your child best handle stressful situations:
What you can do to help your child best handle stressful situations:
Role model a calm approach: Remember that children and teens react in part to what they see from adults around them. They will feed off your emotions and the atmosphere around them.
Be informed of the facts so you are best placed to rationally respond to your children and take the time to talk to your child about the COVID-19 outbreak and answer questions in a way they can understand.Keep information to the known facts and ensure what is disseminated is age appropriate.
Reassure your child that they are safe and that it’s OK to feel stressed. Let them know how you deal with your own stresses so they can learn from you.
Limit the family’s exposure to news coverage, including social media. It is very easy for them to misinterpret information when they may be frightened, and people do become more distressed if they see repeated images of a disaster. Remind your children of the many who face challenges on a daily basis and the many in our community who are working so hard to manage this situation and support those who are ill. More people are recovering than are getting sick from the virus.
Try to keep a regular routine each day and structure. This is critical in minimising panic. Put limits on technology that is not for educational purposes. Be actively monitoring it’s use. Use an app if you can’t.
Promote, get planning and set aside Family Time- Open the games cupboard! Go for a walk.
Promote well-being adequate sleep, exercise and healthy food.
Encourage gratitude either through verbal dialogue or through a written journal, individual or family based.
Look for ways to help, support and encourage others so that an egocentric approach to dealing with adversity is not indulged.
Allow your child/ young person a sense of control and manage their feelings by encouraging them to take small steps of action. Modelling a strengths approach to the situation and looking for the opportunities to do new things at home and be creative for example: managing their online learning with a timetable, creating a fun and positive blog for other kids to read, be inspired by how other young people are spreading kindness around the world, FaceTiming their younger cousins / friends to keep up morale, creating a recipe book...
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