When parenting during coronavirus, although it is your responsibility to ensure your kids are safe from the coronavirus, you cannot do it without their help (in the case of older kids). As long as you are not practicing newborn care (your kid is 5 and above), then you need to enlist their active participation in the prevention and possible eradication of an impending case of infection. Here are 10 hygiene routines to get your kids participating in that will go a long way in helping with the control of COVID-19 spreading. Even when they are well conversant with the routine you will need to guide and lend a helping hand.
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Teach Them The Basics About the Virus
Before you even begin to teach your kids proper hygiene and the importance of maintaining it as regards the prevention of the transmission of the novel coronavirus, they need to know what the virus is. Tell them about the virus, what the symptoms are, and how it can be prevented. You should also teach them about the consequences of contracting such a disease. Do not try to make it seem harmless in order not to frighten them. The novel coronavirus is something to be afraid of, put a little fear in them but do not let that anxiety take the whole of their days.
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Age-Specific Information
While teaching them about the virus, there is age-specific information for kids of different age groups. This is because younger kids may not understand more complicated information. For preschoolers, you want to teach them simple preventive measures like covering hands with elbows when they sneeze or cough, and frequent hand washing. Making it as playful and fun as possible will help facilitate understanding for these young ones. For older kids, you can delve into the more pressing concerns like what the consequences of contracting the virus are and how they can help themselves and others. Always emphasize what they can do to help with the prevention of the spread and encourage them to put in their quota.
Teaching Them Hygiene
Next, you need to teach children hygiene. You need to teach them hand washing, covering their mouths with their elbows when they sneeze, or cough and also not to touch any surfaces when they are out or even at home. You need to teach them not to put anything that isn’t food into their mouths, ever. Also, teach them not to touch their faces (whatever the reason may be). These being the common ways the novel coronavirus is transmitted needs to be solidified into the minds of children to help make your effort move better. Without their help, you may find it difficult to prevent infection except they stay at home.
Daily Routine
You need to teach your kids daily routines for hygiene, also the pros and cons of taking a bath when necessary and at the wrong time of day, respectively. Such routines include cleaning their hands after touching doorknobs, washing their hands with soap and water every 2-3 hours. Generally, you need to plan your daily hygiene routine based on how your days usually are. One thing you can do to cultivate the habit of consistent daily practice is to have them take their baths first thing when they wake up. Even if they are not going anywhere, they should take their baths first thing in the morning. This will serve as a reminder to follow through with the rest of the daily routine you’ve set out for them.
Using Analogies
If your kid is older than 7 then you need to make them understand what is happening when parenting during coronavirus. For you to be able to effectively incorporate hygiene practices in a child you must first give them a good reason why they should follow through with it. Make examples with what is happening around the world, let them see the news, talk to them about why schools are closed. Make them see how big the issue of the coronavirus is. If they see all these then they will have a glimpse of how serious this is, and that way they understand why you’re trying to enforce all these new hygiene practices.
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Listen To Their Concerns
Some children are still attending school. If your kid is still in school then you need to pay extra attention to them when parenting during coronavirus. You must give them an attentive ear since you are not practicing newborn care, and little kids may have opinions of their own. While trying to alleviate their worries, ensure you listen to what they have to say, and understand them. This is the only way you may get to find out if there is anything you need to do, or if your kid is at risk of contracting the virus or something of the sort. Let them be your ears and eyes whenever you aren’t around.
Develop A Reward System
A child will always be a child, and without a reward system, no matter how important what they are required to do maybe, they will soon begin to lag. Develop a reward system for your kid when parenting during coronavirus. Track their activities and reward them for good compliance. Things like how often they washed their hands, if they touched their face a lot or not, encourage honesty in them and reward them for good behavior. Your child will strive to do better if they believe they could be rewarded for doing well. With such a strong motivator for them, it only makes your job easier when parenting during coronavirus.
Make It Fun
Kids will always engage more with activities that are fun to do rather than those made out to seem like tedious tasks. If you are teaching your kids to wash their hands you may as well include a game to go with it. The more fun you can make it the more enthusiastic your kids will be about your parenting during coronavirus. There are several ways you can add fun to the whole thing. You could try and see who can stay the longest without touching their face accidentally, or see who washes their hands the best. Anything that puts a little challenge and fun to it will do nicely in getting them invested.
Create Time To Bond While Parenting During coronavirus
Kids enjoy having time to spend with mommy, even when parenting during coronavirus. While giving them directives on hygiene is not bad for older kids, you should take out time to connect with them. Your kid maybe 7 but he/she is still a kid. They need to bond with you. You could use bath time to bond with them and even go over some of the basics of hygiene you’ve taught them. Mom and kid bath time will do well to solidify this process. If you do not do this you run the risk of having kids mechanically follow directives they aren’t investing in.
Additional Tips
It is always important to teach your kids. However, it is even more important to ensure that they do assimilate the information. For that, you need to make observations daily as to whether they have understood what you’re teaching them. You may want to question your kids every once in a while to see how much they retain. You could ask them to tell you the pros and cons of taking a bath at the right and wrong times of day to see how much they have understood. Without this understanding, you run the risk of having them relapse that one time that may end up being detrimental when parenting during coronavirus.
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