The Louisiana Children's Museum (LCM), along with the Tulane Institute of
Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health, has released guidelines to help
parents of young children during the pandemic.
Their guide outlines ideas for how you can talk to your children about the
coronavirus, managing extreme moods or stress and anxiety in your child and in
yourself, and making sure that your child feels safe.
Parents should remember that news media about the virus can be especially
scary for young children and that overhearing adult conversations that aren't
meant for them can also increase their anxiety.
The guide suggests fair disciplining measures and ways to make children feel
empowered, rather than limited, by practicing social distancing measures. It
instructs to explain to them how, through these actions, they can help keep
their loved ones safe.
The guide also advises parents not to put too much pressure on themselves to
get through academic curriculum and to just connect with their child as best
they can. Parents working from home right now, while their children are
homeschooling, are having to teach, work, and parent all at once and are
understandably overwhelmed.
There are tips for developing a daily routine, as providing a structure for
activities gives children a "new normal" that they can rely on. The guide
provides links to information about which schools are providing free meals and
links to resources for online learning. There's a list of suggested activities
to fight cabin fever, such as building an indoor fort, joining in water balloon
fights, gardening, cooking or baking, and drawing with sidewalk chalk.
Read LCM's full post HERE.
