The covid-19 pandemic is the biggest challenge for families throughout the world. Parents might have lost their sense of calm. Working from home and running a household can be daunting and frustrating. However, it’s essential to maintain a safe, healthy home environment. Equally, it’s important to help children manage their emotions and behaviour.
Go easy on yourself and follow these tips for maintaining balance and keeping a check on your stress levels.
1. Follow Susceptibility
C’mon, it’s a real-life challenge and you need to face it. Conflicts will be a common phenomenon at home. Practice vulnerability and motivate your kids to follow the same. Take your time out and let the situation calm down. Speak to your kids and let them know that the situation is overwhelming. Also, allow them to share their opinions, feelings, and frustrations too.
2. Accept Your Child’s Fears and Stress
Young kids are bound to be scared during the present circumstances. The covid-19 pandemic not only changed their schooling and normal routine patterns but has also disturbed their friendship and extra-curricular time. Hence, prioritize your kid’s fears and assure their mental, physical, and emotional well-being.
3. Maintain Healthy Routines
As you and your family adapt to the new normal, you need to re-establish daily routines for your kids. Consistency and a structured environment are the needs of the hour. Appropriate mealtime and bedtime can help your child feel safe and sound. Also, include activities like family dinners, fitness regime, and allow your kids to socialize as well. It’s equally essential that you follow safety protocols. Gardens and playgrounds are more open to getting infected. Hence, ask your kids to wear a mask, maintain social distance, and regularly wash their hands.
4. Controlling Behavioural Issues
Kids often overreact owing to the amount of stress they’re going through. As a disciplinarian, try to be calm and composed. Firstly, manage your stress and frustration levels and then design a health regime for your family through daily exercises, fun time, and following a meditative practice. The calmer you’re, the better you’ll be at handling your kid’s response to anxiety.
5.Supervising Child’s Social Media Activities
During this pandemic phase, kids are more reliant on the Internet and other social media to maintain a point of contact with friends to get daily news updates. Though a positive aspect, it can also have a negative influence on your kid. The solution: you can simply restrain the use of mobile phones and other devices to keep a check on their social media usage. You can encourage them to use social media more responsibly.
6. The Reasoning for Setting Up Rules
Your teen is likely to feel uncertainty during this scale. Prospects might scare them. Teens and older ones may be annoyed with present circumstances. On top of that, the newly set rules might annoy them more. You can provide them with reasons to understand the significance of working together.
7. Special Time Out
Spare some special time for each kid. Like involving them in cooking, reading, playing or anything that interests them. 20-30 minutes of undivided attention once a day can do the part. Your child will feel special.
“This time too shall pass. That which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. PERIOD!”