PARENT WELLBEING

Remember you are the most important teacher your child will ever have.

You are their first teacher and their lifelong teacher.

You may not realise it, but you have been teaching your child for years. Remember when they were little and you taught them to clap their hands and blow out a birthday candle? Remember when you taught them to talk and walk? Ride a bike? You taught them these things deliberately.

Children understand their emotions and how to handle them primarily from watching you. Have you ever noticed your child yelling or using words in anger in the same way you do? During these seemingly small interactions, our children watch and listen and learn. They literally soak us up. Modelling is a powerful teacher. So you go first!

Parent Wellbeing

Being confined to home for an extended period of time can cause stress and conflict.

Tips for looking after your children during isolation include:

• Talking to your whole family about what is happening. Understanding the situation will reduce their anxiety.

• Help your children to think about how they have coped with difficult situations in the past and reassure them that they will cope with this situation too. Remind them that the isolation won't last for long.

• Exercise regularly. Options could include exercise DVDs, dancing, floor exercises, yoga, walking around the backyard or using home exercise equipment, such as a stationary bicycle if you have it. Exercise is a proven treatment for stress and depression.

• Encourage your children to keep in touch with family members and friends via telephone, email or social media (where appropriate).

• Below are some links that might be of assistance to you during these unprecedented times.

Setting Up for Success While At Home Together

Other than frequently and empathetically checking in with your kids, what else can you do to support their wellbeing and maintain a sense of normalcy while they’re out of school (and while you’re attempting to work from home)? Here is a list of ideas to consider for your family:

• Stick to a consistent routine daily. Set expectations about getting up, getting dressed and eating breakfast.

• Limit endless snacking. (We know this will be a tricky one for some of us who have stockpiled muesli bars!)

• Create a schedule for each day with your children to break up the time. Include 'class time' when they complete school work (NOT over the holiday period), dedicated time for play (make cubbies) and physical exercise. Though there’s no need for a rigid agenda, all family members can be soothed by a predictable structure.

• Put a limit on social media. Encourage staying connected to friends but not obsessively reading news or discussing the virus online.

• Don’t have the TV on in the background all day. The worry for children will escalate if they repeatedly hear and view adults panicking or reports of deaths.

• For children without their own phones, set up a FaceTime playdate with a friend and let them chat using your phone.

• Talk about and plan for ways in which you’ll deal with family arguments or sibling rivalry.

• Make dinner together.

• Go old school! Have story time, play a board game and spend time in the garden with your child.

Create a Family 'Coping Kit' To Deal with Anxiety

It is expected that we will experience anxiety during times of uncertainty and stress. One way you can help your child address their anxiety is through building a simple 'Coping Kit'. A 'Coping Kit' includes practical strategies that empower children to manage difficult feelings productively. Depending on your child’s age and needs, their 'Coping Kit' could include:

• This simple feelings wheel to accurately name and acknowledge emotions they may be experiencing. Remember, there are no 'bad' emotions – it’s ok for them to feel whatever they feel and your job is to help them use strategies to cope.

• Calming breathing techniques and mindfulness activities to reduce stress.

• Yoga or other movement and stretching activities.

• Relaxation techniques like guided imagery or progressive muscle relaxation.

• Fun indoor physical activities and games.

• A private journal or sketchbook where they can express their emotions through writing or drawing.

• For older children, find a social cause to learn more about together and support remotely or cultivate compassion by encouraging them to reach out via phone or text to potentially isolated elderly family members, neighbours, or their peers who are home unsupervised.

• Practical strategies to help maintain their physical health including: 1. Picking out a fidget bracelet, button or other small wearable item (that can be disinfected daily) to redirect the urge to touch their face. 2. Choosing part of a song they love that is at least 20 seconds long to sing while washing their hands.

Finally, children take their emotional cues from us. Being honest about our fears is important to model but we should express our feelings appropriately. How can we find ways to regain calm and also model and verbalise compassion for others? How can we notice when our stress level is rising to stop, breathe and use our own coping strategies before responding to our children?

There is no way around it. This moment requires us to dig deep and take deliberate action to make sure we stay mentally healthy for our kids. Even small acts of care for ourselves are important like watching a TV show that makes you laugh, taking two minutes each day to write down something you are grateful for, or talking honestly and privately about how you feel with a friend.

Though we may be practising social distancing, remember to stay in touch with other parents and caregivers to share ideas, seek support and stay connected!

We would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which Paynesville Primary School stands, the Kurnai People, and recognise their continuing connection to land, water and community. We would like to pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging, for they hold the hopes, dreams and aspirations of all Indigenous Australians.