According to the latest update, 2,52,773 cases of the new coronavirus disease have been reported all over the world. Though COVID-19 possesses a risk to all age groups, older people and those with existing medical conditions tend to manifest more severe symptoms.
The fact that an effective coronavirus vaccine is yet to be discovered has given rise to chaos in the world. Nonetheless, healthcare experts strongly recommend social distancing to combat the rampant spread of the virus.
Amidst all these, parents of young kids are losing their sleep thinking about their child's wellbeing. Even though parents are secluding their child at home and are ensuring personal hygiene, the global outbreak of corona disease is going to affect children's futures in more than one way.
To elaborate, social distancing is the most effective precautionary measure against the coronavirus outbreak, wherein individuals limit personal interaction to prevent the spread of the virus.
However, when compared to adults, children are not able to utilise this time productively. As a result, it is also believed that the confinement may lay a negative impact on children's health. Notably, such an effect may extend beyond physical fitness and affect their mental health as well.
Impact on physical health
Reduced physical activity is likely to take a toll on children's health during the confinement period. Also, with a disturbed routine and chaos around both their dietary and sleep regime is expected to be affected. Hence, because of the unhealthy dietary pattern, irregularity in sleep and lack of physical activities children's health can be affected in these ways -
Weight gain
Lethargy
Reduced cardiorespiratory fitness
Impact on mental health
Similarly, the lack of outdoor activity and limited interaction with friends is expected to affect the psychological health of both adolescents and children. They may experience the following during social distancing -
Irrational fear and anxiety
Children often lack the required information to distinguish between rumour and verified information. Since there is a lot of unverified information and exaggerated rumours doing rounds on the internet, children are bound to be afraid. One might also develop irrational fear in their mind when it comes to being exposed to the new coronavirus infection. Being constantly anxious and paranoid about the whole situation may hamper their health as well.
Boredom and frustration
State governments have issued the order to shut down schools and ban public gatherings in order to contain the spread of coronavirus disease. This leaves children and adolescents with nowhere to go and no outdoor activities to enjoy. Those who are used to leading an active lifestyle and are frequently seen enjoying the outdoors are more likely to feel bored and frustrated during the confinement.
Interruption inflow of learning
It is practically the beginning of an academic year for most students. Consequently, being confined to their homes would lay a negative impact on their school curriculum. Eventually, it would also hamper their flow of learning and hinder their habit of following a scheduled curriculum. Similarly, students who are preparing for competitive exams like NEET and JEE may become anxious as they miss out on their scheduled coaching classes and home tuitions.
Lack of interaction
Such confinement is also bound to limit interaction for children, especially those who are the only child of the family. Not being around the same age, people or like-minded friends may leave children feeling anxious and frustrated.
Hence, to remedy the situation, parents should take proper care to protect their children not just from the coronavirus infection but also from its ancillary impacts.
Tips for tackling the impact of corona outbreak
Besides encouraging personal hygiene among children, parents must also help children to adjust to social confinement.
Here's what parents should do to minimise the repercussions of self-quarantine during coronavirus outbreak –
Tip 1 - Communicate
Parents should make it a point to interact with their children as much as possible during the confinement period. They should educate children about coronavirus disease and teach them how to prevent the same.
It will not only help children rationalise their fears but would also help them feel at ease.
Tip 2 - Encourage a hobby
To inculcate positivity and ensure productivity among children, parents should encourage kids to practice a hobby. They can encourage children to pick up hobbies which they do not get to enjoy anymore owing to their compact schedule. Similarly, parents may encourage children to try a new hobby like playing an instrument, painting, gardening, composting, etc.
Tip 3 - Resort to online learning
As a means to ensure children do not lose track of their academic lessons, parents should get them enrolled in an online learning platform. It would not just help students to continue their lessons uninterruptedly, but would also prove to be a welcome distraction from the coronavirus disease. By downloading Vedantu's learning app, students would be able to use their free time productively. Free live classes and study solutions will help to improve their understanding of various subjects.
Tip 4 - Involve in family activities
Parents should try to involve their children in family activities to calm their fears surrounding the pandemic. Family members can play board games or Pictionary, solve puzzles, watch a movie together, play video games etc. to spend quality family time. It would also prove to be an effective way of bonding with the children and improving family relations significantly.
Tip 5 - Monitor diet and sleep
Children often have trouble sleeping and eating in an unfamiliar and unlikely situation, which adds on to their health problems. This is why parents of young kids should make it a point to monitor their diet and sleep regime closely. If a child tends to manifest erratic sleep or dietary pattern, parents should try to talk to them and positively reinforce healthy habits.
Tip 6 - Encourage physical activities
Though going out is not a safe option at the moment, children can still participate in physical activities. Parents can encourage their children to practice yoga, skipping or aerobics to use their time healthily and productively. They may also urge their children to try meditation which can help them relax their minds.
Tip 7 - Provide personal space
Parents must provide personal space to their growing child as and when required. It would allow the children to process the current situation on their own and rationalise the same effectively. Also, they would learn the value of privacy and would not feel unnecessarily suffocated during the quarantine.
Tip 8 - Teach self-sufficiency skills
Also, self-isolation is the best time to teach young children self-sufficiency skills. Parents can teach a new self-sufficiency task each day of confinement. For instance, they can teach kids how to store water, cook a basic meal, preserve food, compost, perform CPR and first aid, etc. during this time.
In brief, make sure to create a safe and comfortable environment for your kids at home so that they can voice their fears and doubts without any hesitation. Also, do not dismiss their worries as baseless. Instead, help them to rationalise the situation by providing them with verified information about the new coronavirus disease. Likewise, spend quality time with kids and help them to continue with their daily chores like completing their homework or learning a new lesson, etc.
In case you are working from home and are unable to help your kid with their daily lessons as much as you want to, get them enrolled at Vedantu's online classes. Our highly qualified teaching faculty have years of teaching experience behind them. The experience, combined with their profuse knowledge about their respective subjects allows them to design and conduct the classes holistically and efficiently.
Consequently, it gives us the upper hand when it comes to conducting successful live online classes and making the learning session interactive and engaging. Hence, making it an effective way of keeping learning fun and uninterrupted even during a pandemic outbreak.
By registering at our learning portal, students would not just benefit from our free Master Classes but would also gain access to free learning materials and study solutions. Students of all class can access our free PDF downloads of all subjects and improve their understanding of them significantly.
Also, our learning app is compatible across most devices and is extremely easy to use, which further makes it a feasible way of gaining quality knowledge. Make the most of this situation and continue your learning experience from the safety of your home. Now keep your child's preparation undeterred with our study material and NCERT Solutions Class 1 to 12 all subjects available on Vedantu site.
Download Vedantu App now and enjoy the quality and safe learning!
