Children’s emotional well-being in times of pandemic

The new reality of the coronavirus hit without warning. Suddenly, all the dynamics of life changed, starting with school lessons. Electronic devices become their classrooms for boys and girls around the world.

This new way of schooling also brought a more intense coexistence in families. Tension and stress reached the homes. Each child is different and will be able to face these anxiety and fears depending on how old he/she is. Thus, a small student who starts his classes is not the same as a teenager about to graduate.

For each stage, Additional Support Needs proposes different recommendations and habits that can significantly improve the interaction among all members of the family. We summarize the main ideas shown on the Edron Talks held on September 1^st, 2^nd, and 9^th.

For the little ones: routine, structure, and organization.

Erika González, a Kinder psychologist, explains that the toddlers express their emotions through anger, irritability, regressions, sadness, or boredom. For them, setting up a routine with constant schedules, a fixed study place, arrangements during lessons, class changes with a sound or songs at the end of each activity help create an atmosphere that will make them feel calm and secure.

To strengthen the connection with teachers and classmates, board games, readings of stories about empathy or sessions through online platforms to talk and see their friends help a lot.

In primary, talking about emotions helps

Children who are already in Primary, despite being a little older, still have fears and are just learning to deal with so many emotions. Worry, anxiety or frustration are manifested at this age in different ways: refusing to sleep alone, being interested in talking about the coronavirus, crying in situations that do not warrant it, fear of the dark, or having “night accidents”. These are some of the symptoms that parents may notice, explains Primary’s psychologist, Verónica Sánchez.

To help them go through this process in the best way, Verónica Sánchez recommends listening to their concerns, encouraging them to resume the activities they love, inquire about the things that are bothering them, and introduce little by little those tasks that cause frustration.

Resilience and self-regulation for the elderly

Despite being older, the parents of secondary school identify that the students also embrace difficult the moment and sometimes, difficult to handle. Some examples are the excessive use of video games or social networks, self-sabotage of their routines, cyberbullying, or low self-esteem, among others.

Magdalena Torres, psychologist at Secondary, proposes to overcome these stages: negotiate exposure to social networks, recognize that we do not know everything and can ask for help, respect personal spaces, recognise and validate emotions, use virtual communication as an ally or give a purpose to this confinement. Magdalena Torres also mentions how important resilience and self-regulation is at this stage. Both help a lot to create a new perspective of the future for the teenagers.

Our new reality is not going away anytime soon. For this, we must seek adaptation and establishment of new life dynamics where we can handle stress and tension in a different and more functional way.

Erika González, Verónica Sánchez and Magdalena Torres

Additional Support Needs