Back to school tips to Combat Covid-19

As a state of unlocking is being implemented in different countries, schools are also planning to reopen. Although the school administration has taken charge to ensure the students’ best safety, as parents, you are still in a state of dilemma. You are uncertain whether you should trust your child’s safety to the school authorities or not. The more you think about it, the more confused you become. If sending your child back to school is risky, keeping him back home is dangerous too. It may curb his overall growth and leave him lagging from children who get back to school.

So, is there an end to the seemingly never-ending dilemma you are facing? The best solution probably lies in helping your child become self-equipped for back to school safety. Further, this preparation will not only help him with the current situation, but it will also help him throughout his life. He will learn how to adapt to the most difficult of the circumstances and sail through the challenges.

Thus, here are some effective back to school tips to help your child combat Covid-19:

Enhance his awareness of the current situation:
The more aware your child is, the more precautious he will be. So, first of all, you need to enhance his awareness of the current situation. You may wonder what if increased awareness makes your child feel frightful? It won’t. It is because, as parents, you are adept in the skills of presenting the truth to your child subtly and gently. Just have faith in your abilities and let your child know about the situation. You can tell him about the number of active cases, the recovery rate, the efforts being made to prepare a vaccination, the old history of pandemics, and so on.
Open gateways for discussion:
Children are innocent and delicate. They may have a lot of stress and anxiety about the pandemic welled up inside. It is crucial for us as adults to stimulate them to open up about their worries and concerns. This is necessary for their well-being. There may be some misinformation causing them unnecessary stress. If you get to know about it, you can rectify the misinformation and make your child feel a little relaxed. Further, even if he is anxious about something genuine, you can work on easing his anxiety if you know what is going on inside him. So, you should try to open gateways for discussion with your child. You may begin by sharing your worries with them. Along with this, you can also tell them about how you overcome them. This will stimulate your child to open up with you.
Help him inculcate the precautionary habits:
This is one of the most important things to do. Before the schools reopen, your warrior child should already be ready to combat Covid-19. For this, you should help him teach the necessary precautionary habits at home. Given below are some easy ways to do so:

· Play the mask game with your child:
Playing is the best way to make children learn something. So, it is best to make your child inculcate precautionary habits by playing games with him. The ‘mask game’ is a game through which you can help your child inculcate a habit of wearing a mask. It is effortless to play. Both you and your child just have to wear a mask. The one who keeps wearing it for the most extended amount of time wins the game.

· Make him the sanitizer superhero of your house:
To help your child, inculcate the habit of regular hand sanitization, you can play another game with him. It involves making him the sanitizer superhero of the house. He has to remind everyone to sanitize their hands after every hour. If he forgets to do so, dragons conquer the house, and the game gets over. It is a fun game, which he will love to play as a superhero.

· Play hands off face game:
This game will help your child inculcate the habit of not touching his face. To play the hands-off face game, you just have to set a timer and tell the players not to touch their faces for the set time. The one who succeeds in the task wins the game.

· Make him follow the 20-second fun hand washing rule:
Proper handwashing reduces the threat of infection by 50%. So, you need to help your child inculcate the 20-second handwashing habit. You can do so by making him sing four lines of his favorite song during hand washing. You can make this activity even more fun by singing along with him. Further, you should also learn the proper steps of handwashing, such as rubbing between the fingers, on the nails, and so on.

Teach him about social distancing:
Social distancing is one of the most effective ways to counter the threat of infection. Thus, you must teach him about social distancing. You can make him understand how social distancing can prevent infected droplets from reaching him. Along with this, you can also tell him about some tricks to maintain a safe distance. Measuring one arm distance and measuring 10 step distance are the two easiest ones.
Demonstrate an Optimistic demeanor:
The current times are challenging for all of us. But, you need to demonstrate an optimistic attitude. It is because you are your child’s support system. If you appear hopeful and healthy, he is likely to behave the same way too. Thus, you- the warrior parents, have to demonstrate an optimistic demeanor. Whenever you find your child worrying, just go to him and sprinkle your positivity. Make him believe that the almighty is taking proper care of him and his loved ones. So, he shouldn’t worry and stay hopeful that the pandemic will end soon.

This is how you- the warrior parents, can prepare your warrior children to maintain maximum back to school safety amidst the pandemic.

Haz clic para leer en Español: Consejos para el regreso a clases para combatir el Covid-19

About Author: Jessica Robinson is a woman of words, who brings with her an experience of a decade. She is an educational writer and has even penned down many motivational blogs for various websites. She spills the magic of her thoughts through her blog ‘The Speaking Polymath’. In this blog, she makes the reader experience her management proficiency along with her skill to resolve matters of global importance.