Children also need guidance in these uncertain times...

the day, or on days when you wouldn’t normally have it.

Make sure you factor exercise into your day. Even just 30 minutes a day is beneficial to your mental and physical health. Avoid staying up late or watching too much screen time; avoid staying in bed for too long in the mornings; avoid COVID-19 ‘news overload’ and use the same (and reliable) news source once a day. The same applies to the rest of the family - insist on keeping some level of routine in place. It’s important and will help you overcome what is a difficult period of social isolation.

ADULTS are understandably under strain and feeling a lot of anxiety at the moment given the huge level of uncertainty being created by the COVID-19 pandemic. But children are also enduring these concerns in their own way. Adults need to be mindful that children are picking up on these anxieties and are internalising them.

Child & Adolescence Psychotherapist Edel Lawlor specialises in Play Therapy and she explains that more than ever children are looking for understanding, guidance and a sense of normality in these uncertain times.

“We need to be mindful that children are listening and while they do need to hear some of it, they don’t need to hear all of it,” Edel says.

She explains that parents are looking and feeling stressed at the moment and that this stress shows on our faces, enabling children to pick up on it. She urges parents to be mindful that children are listening.

“It’s about adults regulating themselves first and changing their thinking, and what they say in front of kids. Family meal times are now more important than ever. Sitting down to eat and talk with children is a great chance to validate a child’s feelings.”

Edel concludes: “Children are going to first look at us, as adults, to see how we’re coping. That’s why it’s important to say and do the right thing to make them feel assured. Again, it’s about adults regulating themselves and coming up with a routine for children. We must ask what this is like for the child. Parents must mention to children the things that people are doing for our safety in this pandemic. It’s about identifying things children are seeing and talking because children tend to internalise a lot of what they see.”