Part 3: Keep talking

Keep Talking: You and Your Child

                                                                                                                                    Photo courtesy of Common Sense Media

Your child may go through different phases of reaction to managing in-person school with COVID concerns. It is a fluid process for us all. The added stress of maintaining vigilance with protocols, while trying to learn and readjust to being back in person, can be significant. Your child’s friends may have a different stance on mask-wearing or other differing views about how we are handling the pandemic. This can also add a burden to your child’s day. Even if your child seems okay, make sure you keep talking and check in regularly with them. A small conversation can go a long way – whether it’s at the dinner table, on the way to resumed sports, or before bed. Having an ongoing and regular dialogue about this topic can actually minimize the amount of time and “brain space” you and your child spend on it and its associated issues. This, in turn, can lead to a more normalized experience as time goes on.

Keep Talking: You and Your Child’s School

With COVID-19 still among us, ongoing communication between school and home is more crucial than ever as well. Don’t be afraid to check in regularly with school personnel. Ask questions if something isn’t clear or if you do best when you know ahead what the plan will be, should a shift have to occur. Don’t get rid of that area of your home where your child did distance learning just yet! Keep materials and the set-up close at hand, in case your child must return, however briefly, to distance learning. You might want to have a backup plan for work as well, in case this happens. These things can retreat to the background, but if you have them in reserve, it can make the transition, if necessary, easier.

Keep Talking: The Big Picture

This time in our lives is fast becoming one of those era-defining events that generations of people look back on and talk about to future generations. Try to find any “silver linings” you can to the pandemic, which can include:

• extra time spent with your immediate family
• frank conversations with your kids
• improvement of your baking or home-improvement skills
• slowing downtime a little and being forced to take stock of what is important to you

Whatever it may be, remember, you and your children are weathering this together. Though you may have different perspectives, reactions and responsibilities, you are getting through this together. You can look forward to the day when you can look back and reflect and congratulate each other on having gotten through – hopefully, in the near future. And, if it takes a little longer to learn everything they need for that future, that is okay. We are all rebuilding what school, and our societal interactions, look like and feel like. We just don’t have a script or a timetable as we make sure we do that right!

More resources:

Talking to Kids about Covid (KidsHealth)

Back to School: Tips to Navigate the New “Normal” Part 1: Know your child and adapt accordingly

Back to School: Tips to Navigate the New “Normal” Part 2: Relax yourself!