With Coronavirus (COVID-19) dominating the news cycle, we are all feeling a little overwhelmed. We have become uncertain of the next hour and even while being quarantined at home; we cannot stop worrying about everyone’s health especially our loved ones.
There’s an excessive need to keep ourselves up-to-date with the current situation that causing us to worry, but there’s nothing good that is coming out it.
Anytime during any crisis situation, all we want is someone to reassure us by answering these questions:
- Am I safe?
- Are you, the people caring for me, safe?
- How will this situation affect my daily life?
When we have sought out answers for these questions, there are times when we still don’t feel at ease. So, here are a few pointers that can help you reduce your stress and anxiety as well as for your family members.
- Try to control your anxiety: people around you, who know you, can sense your fear. This may make them feel scared too.
Tips that can help you not feel anxious:
– Keep yourself updated with fact-based information
– Be honest about your feelings and concerns with your loved ones
– Take care of your physical health, build your immune system
- Talk to your children, partner: Share what you know, ask them to share what they know. Ask a lot of open-ended questions. There are a lot of misconceptions and misinformation out there, so don’t assume that everyone knows the specifics and the exact thing.
- Validate acknowledge the feelings of your children, and your loved ones: small children may have all sorts of doubts and questions about the virus, instead of getting angry and becoming impatient, you can sit down with them and answer their questions slowly, for them to get an idea about the present situations too. Give examples. Provide them with enough information that makes them feel validated. But don’t assume that they may understand everything that you’ve said.
- Model positive/good behaviour: washing hands every 20 seconds with a sanitizer, not touching your face constantly, coughing in your sleeve, covering your mouth while sneezing with your elbow, not making physical contacts or handshaking. Praise and reinforce your children when you see them do this behavior. It will encourage them to continue it.
- Don’t blame others: often times when we feel helpless, we tend to blame others or feel scared of the situation. We may also try to engage in spreading stigma around the people who have recently travelled from the places where there is high threat. The last thing we want our kids to do when frightening events happen is to cast blame on others, either intentionally or without meaning to. Listen to your kids when they tell you what they know about the virus and try not to reinforce negative stereotypes in your conversations by addressing it.
- Provide reassurance: reminding that there have been tough times before and reminding that we each stand for each other, will help in reducing their anxiety. Provide them new information by telling them stories so that they don’t scared. Tell them of the times when they might have felt scared and hurt, tell them that even though everyone was scared, we worked together and looked out for each other.
Knowing and keeping yourself updated on the latest news is important but constantly worrying about it and making others, especially your family worry is harmful to everyone’s health.
Take precautions. Believe in focusing on your health first. Teach your kids to take precautions for themselves, teach them to keep a sanitizer, a handkerchief nearby always to keep themselves clean.
It surely is a difficult time, we don’t know what is going to happen next, or how long will it last for, but we can at least do whatever we can to keep ourselves healthy and make our immune systems stronger. However, we can help each other become more resilient, emotionally stable, and as physically protected as possible through a carefully planned means of engaging with our kids in this time of crisis.
