Families and Children
Many research studies have looked at the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on families, and we now know that families find isolating particularly hard. This is why we have made a special section for families and children.
What may you need?
- For younger children, a ‘pencil pot’ inclusive of drawing tools, scissors, glue etc. may be required.
- If you do not have a printer in your home, it may be worth sourcing some printed worksheets to have on hand.
- An internet connection is likely to be the most important factor in a middle or senior school students for online learning.
- Craft or STEM packs are great for kids (and adults) of all ages.
TIPS:
- Talk to and listen to your children to make them part of the process.
- Do you know how to hot spot if your internet services are down?
- Think about how you could take home learning offline if you had to.
- Try writing some ideas with your children for things they can do supervised and unsupervised.
- Don’t be afraid to talk to Support Staff and teachers if you need extra help.
- Work together: if you are living across households, try to talk through a plan about how to manage and what to talk about (for inspiration see: Family Communications Plan for Kids (ready.gov)).
Toddlers and pre-schoolers
Here are a few ideas to keep toddlers busy away from the screen – which is also ok, everyone needs a break and some down time.
Busy activities (*mess likely*)
- Get out the tarpaulin or the old sheet and shirts and get crafting. Glue paddle pop sticks, sprinkle glitter, buy bulk paint (make sure its washable).
- Use objects as paint stamps. Toddlers love seeing the patterns their toys create.
- When it is warm, water – playing anything with water in the shower, bath or outside
- Running and riding, make a chalk track or obstacle course
- Have a Home Disco
- Try the classics:
- Hide and seek
- What’s the time Mr Wolf?
- Fort building out of the furniture
- Spotto
- Make a treasure hunt.
- Look outside for bugs and plants
- Set some small goals are cross them off as you journey through the house. Like, 10 star jumps in the corridor.
Calmer activities
- Make them part of the boring bits. Toddlers are generally interested in being part of daily life. Give them a duster and a safe area to dust with you (not the glass cabinet).
- Chalk and bubbles are cheap and usually a winner
- Read books or put together puzzles
- Colouring in
- Cooking/baking together
- Yoga, stretching exercises
- Dress-ups – you don’t need costumes, grown-up clothes can be just as fun
- Sit and watch how things work, like the washing machine. Yes, we have watched various socks circle the washing machine for 20 minutes of calm!
School-aged children
The announcement of school closures, or the loss of access to day care, is likely to come as a major disruption for families with smaller children.
Managing distance education is hard work. We’ve prepared some tips for the adults that might help with planning for home-schooling children. Considering the information below, you may wish to download resources, collect supplies or simply mentally prepare for the event of home schooling.
Click on the link for more information.
Adolescents & Young Adult Children
Teenage or adult children will have their own activities and opinions that need to be considered and worked with. Teenagers and young adults may not understand how you would feel about being isolated or how it would impact you. Talk to them openly about this and ask them how it would impact them – try to make it a conversation and not a lecture.
In this stage of development, teens and young adults may also need help understanding how being sick may affect other people like the elderly or small children.
TIPS:
- Be clear on your expectations regarding their health and potential exposures. Ask them to inform you if they may be a contact with someone who is sick and make sure you do the same for them.
- Talk to your children about whether they will isolate with you or someone else, if given the chance.
- Think about the impacts is isolation on any significant relationships in their life.
- Remind them about using good hygiene practices, especially in shared spaces.
If you are stuck inside together:
- Give them space to do their own thing but try to come together to do things of similar interest, e.g., watch a movie together, cook, or do stuff outside.
- Work with their need for independence and get them to come up with some ideas (with some early encouragement).