17/04/2020
*Dear Parents*
We all are in unfamiliar situation & one of the biggest challenges for parents under the lockdown is to keep their kids engaged. We should not only focus on keeping children engaged and motivating them to keep learning, but also to keep them happy and should focus on their mental well-being.
You might be inclined to create a daily schedules for your kids. You might have hopes of daily learning, online activities, books etc.
But the thing is, our kids maybe fearful as somewhat we are right now. Our kids not only can hear everything that is going on around them, but they can also feel our tension and concern. We along with our kids have never experienced anything like this before.
Although being off of school, they are possibly picturing a fun time like summer vacation, not the reality of being locked at home and not seeing friends.
Over the coming days, you can see an increase in behaviour issues with your kids like anger or protest that they can’t do things normally – it may happen. You can see more tantrums and oppositional behaviour in the coming days. But this is normal and expected under these conditions.
Keeping kids busy and away from the outside world is a huge challenge.
Suddenly they want to play in the park or go to school, rather than watch television at home. What they need right now is to feel comforted and loved. To feel like everything will be going to be ok. And that mean that we have to reschedule our schedule and love on kids a bit more. Make food of their choices, bake cake & cookies, make drawings, paint pictures, play games, watch movies, play antakshari, start a book and read together as a family etc.
Don’t worry about their academics & other learning in school. Every single kid is in this boat and they all will be ok. When we are back in the classroom, we will restructure all course & curriculum and meet them where they are. Our teachers are experts. Don’t pick fights with your kids because they don’t want to do study for some time or some days. Don’t shout at your kids for not following the schedule. Don’t mandate hours of learning time if they are not willing to.
If we can leave you with one thing at the end of all of this, your kids’ mental health will be more important than their academic skills. How they felt during this time will stay with them long than what they did during these days. So please keep that in mind, every day.
The next few days will see you making great memories with your child.
*Let’s WIN together against COVID -19. HOME SAFE*
