How to Help Your Kid Adapt to Social Distancing during Corona Pandemic?

• Post Time - 2021-04-22 09:27:58

With the world still fighting COVID-19, social distancing continue to become a necessity to prevent the pandemic from further spreading, claiming more lives. Social distancing ensures that what's called the aerosols, or to make it simple, the droplets caused when someone breathes, coughs or sneezes, don't reach non- infected people, causing them to catch the virus.

Kids may be the most people who would find difficulty keeping up with social distancing, partly because  it goes against their nature of being spontaneous and thus they might not be cautious enough with watching the required distance with other kids, especially if they are playing together. Social distancing however goes side by side with wearing a face mask.

Very young kids such as babies are of course unable and are not recommended to wear face masks to stay protected against infection. That's why it's important that they avoid gathering at all, especially in confined places.

The problem with toddlers who can wear masks and big kids keeping social distancing is that they have to stay under strict supervision most of the time to maintain such distance between them and other kids, who must as well be wearing masks, also they have to get used to having to wear the mask all the time.

Avoiding people entirely can be quite difficult especially for kids. A good solution would be committing kids and helping them get used to wearing face masks yet not for long hours, as it would be very difficult for them, let alone affect their respiratory system as well as the amount of oxygen reaching the brain.

So we have to place them in envronment that's safe for them and which they can wasily adapt to.

Also engaging kids in outdoor activities would be great, as it ensures good ventilation and more space to move away from others and thus limit the chances of catching the droplets of others' breath that may be breathed by them or fall on their nose, mouth or eyes.

Also applying a routine of going out in the garden to drive their bikes on their own would be great for their heath, plus  making them less sensitive to less socialising than they're used to. Just make sure that gardens and parks are not crowded and that people are applying the cautious measure of wearing face masks and keeping the reuired social distancing.

Do speak to your kids a lot and explain to them about the reason we have to apply some changes to our lives as a result of Coronavirus and that we can enjoy such changes and even try new things that might be more fun.

We can help them see the good side of such changes by for example reaslising the benefit and having good time doing new things, or doing the same things they're used to but differently.

We can try help them enjoy having their classes online as it will help them get more acquainted with technology and gives them more leisure time as they don't have to go to schools each day.

We can also have them appreciate seeing their parents more often, as they, too ,have to work from home.

Also having classes online would give families the chance to take their kids to resorts where they can go to the beach after finishing the classes, or go to a summerhouse if they have any. The options are many, families just need to sit and have new plans to overcome the difficulty of such phase the whole world is going through. 

And again, we can still enjoy life, perhaps even more than before.

Maha Youssuf
Mamas' Guides Editor