A baby’s growth, which begins with childhood and develops through adolescence to maturity, is governed by various biological systems which are optimized by nourishing food, sunshine, and exercise and other environmental forces.
Currently, as a result of the worldwide pandemic caused by 'Covid-19', children are being denied a huge amount of natural resources because there outside time is restricted.
In addition to the outside environment, children have also had their social environment taken away, leading them to feel disconnected with their peers as well as missing out on their usual routine and the safety of school.
Furthermore, because of the challenging circumstances of lockdown, we as adults are facing all of the problems mentioned above as well as financial issues, worries about elderly and sick family members. It is unimaginable to most people that we cannot go to visit our loved ones at a time when they might need us the most.
Our children will be picking up on our stresses and worries and it’s hard as we can’t give any clear answers of what the next 12 months will be like.
In a recent survey by 'Save the Children' of over 6000 children and parents in the US, Germany, Finland, Spain and the UK, up to 65 per cent of the children reported that they are struggling with boredom and feelings of isolation.
Even now, as several countries gradually begin lifting their lockdowns, many schools remain closed. This is affecting 1.3 billion children and students worldwide and strict social restrictions are likely to remain in place across the Globe. Source: https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse
The survey also reported that children responded saying they are feeling anxious, bored and fearful. So what can we do to help?
Anxiety: We address anxiety by having reflection time with our children to ask them how they are feeling and why. It’s OK to say that we may not know the answers, but we must give our children a voice and a platform to be heard.
Boredom: We must get our children’s bodies moving, so as adults we have to raise the vibe for them, put the music on in the morning and dance around the kitchen whenever you feel their mood sinking. Rain hail or shine we must take them outside to connect with nature so that they can recharge their batteries away from their own charged electrical devices. Please, please, please limit their online gaming time (this is a whole other blog in itself). I know this is not easy to implement, but our children’s mental health is our responsibility and although we feel powerless about what’s going on outside our homes we can be empowered by creating a happy environment inside our homes........and believe me the vibe will spread!
We have classes for inspiration what you can do with your children on u tube!
Fear: The opposite of fear is love, cultivate love by tuning out of the news and media and tune into your family, what are you grateful for, what brings you love? The more you visit those feelings the more you create more of it!
We are all just parents doing our best but please don’t underestimate your power to make a positive change we can raise the vibe and lower the statistics.
