An unprecedented health epidemic we have encountered the main thing we wish for is good health for our family, especially our little ones. The good thing is no matter how bad it gets, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
If you’re stuck at home with the kids avoiding coronavirus COVID-19 read on.
Abnormal situations bring upon us a multitude of questions:
How long will this situation last?
How long are we going to stay quarantined at home?
How to explain to my kids why we are not going outside, playing with other kids. Why aren’t we going to the mall, the grocery store, and the library?
How to keep us adults busy, let alone our little ones?
How will some of us parents cope with loosing our jobs, while still having to provide for our family?
How will some of us cope with the blessing of working from home, yet not being able to lead a normal life?
Stressing out doesn’t solve our problems. Moms and dads keep in mind that stress can pass from you to your children. These are unprecedented times for us adults, it’s even harder for our children to comprehend it.
Tell your kids the truth about this public health pandemic. They need to know the truth, some people are getting sick from this virus, some recover, and some are dying. Strangers, even some family members can get us sick, and get our loved ones sick. Be transparent; yet do not build fear inside of them, after all this is a temporary situation, no matter how long it drags on.
It’s a fact of life that schools and daycares are closed. Restaurants that we used to look forward to go eat at are shuttered. Malls that gave us a place to stroll around in on colder winter days, wet rainy days, and hot summer months are closed.
If you are adhering to the mandatory quarantine at home, you’re one of the lucky ones. You could be a healthcare worker, a first responder, or a police officer on the front lines. It could be much worse.
Here is a recent conversation I had with my 2.5 year old daughter. She’s the type that always asks to leave the house at least once a day to either walk outdoors, go the library, grocery shopping, shopping mall, park, etc:
Daughter: Mama I want to go to the library for story time.
Me: Honey, we can’t go to the library, it is closed.
Daughter: why?
Me: There are people that maybe sick at the library and other places, they might get us sick if we interact with them.
Daughter: why?
Me: There is virus that is infecting people all over the world. If we get sick from this virus, we may have to go see the doctor. Do you like seeing the doctor?
Daughter: Why mama, I don’t like going to the doctor?
Me: We’re not the only ones sitting home all day. All kids, even most adults are staying home these days.
I took sometime to show her pictures of people wearing masks and gloves to explain to her that facemasks can prevent this air born virus from infecting us. I explained to her that we have to wash our hands regularly and not to touch our face or mouth for any reason (good luck with that one at that age).
I came to a realization that explaining to a toddler what a virus, coronavirus COVID-19 was going to be challenging. That’s one I decided to show her by doing an experiment, and you can do the same.
Start out by gathering these household items:
Ground black pepper, cooking oil, water, a large open container or a sink with the drain plugged, hand soap.
For starters, poor a tiny bit of oil on your child’s hands, then ask her/him to spread it all over their hands. Sprinkle some ground black pepper on her palms. Explain to them that we are pretending that pepper is a virus.
Ask them to shake hands with you then show her/him how the virus, pepper in our case, transfers from hand to hand by touching other people. You can do the same thing with a toy, a tabletop, and so on to demonstrate hour germs and viruses can transfer to our hands.
At this point, you can have them wash their hands with just water, to show how the oil and pepper wont get washed away well. Then ask them to use soap, scrub their hands well for at least 20 seconds (they can count 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, up to 20) so the oil and pepper can come right off, leaving clean hands.
There are many creative ways to turn this novel coronavirus scare and quarantine into an education series of activities that will leave you with a healthier family mentally, emotionally, and physically.
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