What can parents do to help children orient themselves and face this moment as serenely as possible?
It is very likely that at this moment children are experiencing the news they listen to on television with concern or that come from them from adults’ speeches; It is possible that they can be frightened by hearing words such as “death”, “hospitalizations”, “patients in resuscitation”, “isolation measures”, “quarantine”. What can parents do to help them orient themselves and face this situation as serenely?
The first to treat the quality of information must be adults: children absorb everything that is said, modify and amplify it starting from their fears. At a time when we speak too much, and often inaccurately, of viruses and diseases, Parents must undertake to use only the sources of official informationin particular the website of the Ministry of Health, the page dedicated to the most frequent questions and answers and the epicenter site, by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità. For further study, we also invite you to read our article Coronavirus and children: frequent questions.
Television yes or not?
If there is the habit of watching the news at home all together, better not to change this custom: the changes worry the children, and also in this case their imagination could populate with fears, mysteries, secrets (“great do not want we know …”).
Television and newspapers can offer a useful starting point to give serious and understandable information to our children, and it is even better if we stimulate them with some questions in order to create a serene conversation: “But did you understand what is going on?”, “Have you talked to your Coronavirus friends? What do they say? » A relaxed dialogue indicates that we can speak of this thing, that there is nothing that adults are hiding from children; It also allows you to correct inaccurate information, to avoid for example that the child is convinced that “dangerous” people exist (the Chinese, foreigners) who spread the disease, or that only old and sick people be enchanted, or that it is not right to ban everyone to do the things they want to do.
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Talk about how the contagion takes place?
Yes, but with caution, to prevent particularly sensitive children from seeing the possibility of contagion everywhere and keep this fear in the future too. It can be explained, adapting the speech to the age of our children, that this disease, like all influences and colds, spreads when many people are all together in closed places, and speaking, taking care or sneezing they send the drips of saliva around that could contain the virus; that since not all those who “take” the virus get sick, even people who are well can bring others to the disease; Which is a disease from which it generally heals, but is transmitted more quickly than other influences, so it is important to stop it as soon as possible, avoiding that too many people take the virus and spread it.
Give practical indications
Is it very important to give the child the indications on “And what do we do to avoid it?”: Children are pragmatic, a danger that does not know how to face them frightens them. It is a perfect opportunity to explain to our son that there is a very important action, of which mom and dad have spoken to him many times, who defends both he and the other people from this disease, and also from many others: washing their hands. You can look for one of the numerous videos that teach doctors and nurses how to wash their hands correctly, look at him with the child and show them the difference between putting the hands under the water for a second and washing them “really”.
The displeasure for the canceled holidays, for the canceled trips, for the prohibited cinema must be welcomed with understanding (it is logical that it is sorry) and compensated with the proposal of other activities to be done together in the family.
It is important to cultivate hope: Avoid fatalistic or controversy speeches (they don’t even do big!), Like “who knows when it will end”, “it is to be expected of everything”, “not even scientists manage to agree”. Better to focus on the value of the commitment: “If we all do our part well, soon the situation will return to normal”.
If the child asks questions that parents are not sure to know how to answer correctly, the right thing to say is: “We ask your pediatrician, today we send him a message and then we read the reply together”.
Welcome fear
If the child appears, however, worried and frightened, or if he directly expresses the fear of getting sick, before trying to reassure him with “scientific” speeches welcome his emotions: it is important to tell him that it is natural, when something different happens than usual, feel worried and frightened. After, you can explain to him that our body can defend himself, that inside there are many soldiers able to fight against germs … even against even more bad germs than those who are turning right now. You can tell him that his pediatrician will still be able to give him the right medicines to make him heal, if he should sick, and that everything he feels and sees happening around him serves precisely this: to prevent children, parents and grandparents from falling apart. So let’s all do our part: Let’s wash your hands!
