The Need of the Hour !





Dear Parent,

Greetings  from Joju!!

I hope you all are staying indoors with all your near and dear ones. Yesterday, I received few letters from parents asking me to address how to equip our children to deal with the lockdown situation.

Well! Parents the entire world is still struggling to fight with the current pandemic. We admit and empathize that it is an unprecedented situation that our children have not seen or experienced this before. However, it has become really challenging for the parents to make the children understand the real problem.

The elders in the house might have earlier experienced such difficult situations in their lives which would have certainly helped them to sail out, but our children are still evolving and learning. They look and observe their elders in the house and get a feel of the situation. This lockdown has forced our children to be at home confined within four walls, with complete restriction to move out and play with their peers. This might have resulted in their changed behaviour. Young children cannot find appropriate words to ask what’s happening. So, as a parent it’s our duty to make children understand by showing them the clear picture of the situation, making them accept the  situation or why this has been done, then they will  start cooperating and collaborating with parents at home. It is the need of the hour to keep our children updated on the current situation.

I would suggest-
  • Apprise the children about the current situation: In this difficult situation, parents have a challenging role to play, with their all might they need to maintain their poise and make the child understand. Firstly, reduce your screen time of watching news as too much of it will increase your anxiety, which will get reflected in your body language and children will sense it resulting in increased anxiety in them. So, sit with them, filter the news according to their age and share with them the real problem by weaving a story let’s say- A demon has come who is making us all sick. He is invisible and we can’t see it. Therefore, we need to be in our house. But need not worry, doctors are fighting and taking care of us. Soon, it will be over, and we will be out to our schools. And while communicating the same, the parents need to always maintain calm.
  •    Brief them the importance of maintaining personal hygiene: In order to protect ourselves we need to be healthy, strong and keep ourselves clean. Talk about the healthy eating habits. Also inform the children about the importance of maintain personal hygiene and teach them the correct way of washing hands. Nobody can predict as to when the current situation will return to normal. So, safeguard the children by sharing them the importance and use of wearing a mask. Even involve them in making homemade masks. 
  •   Take into consideration their Mental wellbeing: Try to keep the exposure to the covid-19 news limited as it will unnecessarily create panic amongst them. Try to shift the child’s attention to the brighter side of the picture. Keep a lively atmosphere at home. Children have a set pattern in their life or Children are habitual in their routine. Once their routine breaks by whatsoever reason, they become frustrated. If you find a change in your little one’s behavior, try to find out the reason for the same, maybe he is missing his school friend. Connect him with his friend through a video call.
  • Daily routine: Though the children are at home, do not treat it as long vacation. Try and encourage the children to maintain his daily routine. Adhere to the timetable of the child; be it waking up on time, having breakfast or lunch or play time. This would keep the child busy and he will not feel much difference in his daily routine.
  • Engage the child: Engaging the child productively is a challenging task, but with the easily available resources at home one can keep the child busy. The children can be helped in revising various math concepts like quantification or simply reading books. Grandparents can take story sessions, mothers can take their little help in daily chores; be it arranging of the utensils, stacking the books, serving water to elders etc. These days educators are virtually in touch with the children on a daily basis by releasing videos or having live sessions. This gives the child a convenience of space and child can enjoy the learning. Introduce the child to various conventional board games which many of us also might not have played since many years, so let your inner child come out and play the games like carom board, ludo, snakes and ladders.

 So, parents , drop  your inhibitions as this time shall soon pass too!

Hope the above points would guide you through these testing times of current lockdown.

Yours,
Jolly JOJU !









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