COVID 19 Information
Tips for Parents
Tips for Parents
Stress and anxiety can be difficult to manage during a pandemic. Children are particularly vulnerable to being affected by adult stress. In light of this, our School Counselor and School Psychologist will be providing daily social and emotional strategies on our website to help you as parents navigate life with your student(s) during this unprecedented time. We will provide tips on topics such as: how to talk to your children about the news; creating structure at home; practicing coping skills; resilience activities; and more.
You can find all our Tips for Parents in the District Announcements feed on our District home page.
24 March Tips - Structure and Routine
24 March Tips - Structure and Routine
It is important to maintain your child’s typical schedule and daily routine as much as possible during this time. Consistency and predictability are calming for children during stressful events because they allow for a sense of security. In order to remain as consistent as possible, have your child wake up, brush their teeth, eat meals, and go to sleep at the same time that they usually do. A great way to maintain this consistency is using a schedule. Some schedules may be written while others consist of pictures that symbolize the activity. Schedules can ease the anxiety that some children may experience when transitioning from one activity to another. They are also a great way to increase your child’s independence when completing daily tasks. Some children may benefit from using a visual schedule that shows pictures of each activity, while others may prefer a written schedule. Designing an individualized schedule with your children provides a great opportunity to have fun and get creative.
You can customize this daily schedule to fit your family needs.
Younger children may like this free printable visual schedule.
Here, you can customize a free printable hourly planner.
PDFescape lets you customize any schedule that is in a PDF format.
23 March Tips
23 March Tips
When children hear the news or hear others talking about the pandemic, they can feel scared, anxious, or even confused. They may react to these feelings in various ways. During this time you can help them through this by explaining the facts about the Coronavirus in a developmentally appropriate way. Children are looking to their loved ones to see how they should react to stressful events. It is important to teach them positive preventative measures and acknowledge concerns without panicking. Preventative measures can make them feel like they have some control over the situation, easing their anxiety. You can reassure your children that adults are working hard to keep them safe and healthy.
The Imagine Neighborhood podcast has a great episode on “Talking to Kids about Coronavirus Fears” for you to listen to with your kids.