In this 2-part vlog, Susan Hopkins shares how a COVID-19 scare close to home, compelled her to share a series of 10 Self-Reg reframes for approaching COVID-19 with the children in your care.
1. Our kids are not Teflon. Don’t buy into or share the myth that kids don’t get COVID-19 or are always asymptomatic.
2. Learn from frontline healthcare providers’ approaches. Protect your family with a shared “stay safe” vigilance but do it with calm – think preventative – not preparing for battle.
3. Pay attention to the science and the collective wisdom of scientists, including when it comes to masks. Parents can normalize the use and wearing of PPE and masks for our children, our families, ourselves as a way we keep everyone safer.
4. Two friends have two friends have two friends… Consider with fresh eyes those in your social bubble – the family and friends that you are interacting with regularly without physical distancing – from a perspective of someone in the circle getting a COVID-19 diagnosis.
5. Kids can absorb the message that getting COVID-19 is their fault. Instead of trying to spark “take it seriously” in children and teens connected to bringing COVID-19 into the home and getting others sick, model and support preventative practices as something we all do.
6. Dial down the stress, including both fear of the unknown and guilt about getting others in the family sick, for any child in your life that is being tested for COVID19 and think through your circle of supports should you need them.
7. Recognize and do your part to remove the stigma attached to COVID-19 diagnoses.
8. Clean. Don’t drop your guard on this and encourage your children to do the same.
9. Keep talking to your children, and equally watch the flip side of talking around your children if the messaging is not meant for them. They are taking in your words, and your stress state.
10. Put yourself in the shoes of the adults in schools preparing to go back and find the compassion for their stress, worries, and advocacy for safe return to schools for all even if you have different views on how it should feel from their perspective or about what needs to happen and how.
