Little ears, big fears

Waking up this morning I was reminded of the song “ be careful little children what you hear”. What do you want your child to remember about these coming days? You are in control!

Now more than ever, we need to be aware of how our actions and words affect our children. Our children are growing up in a much different world than we did. In the 1980's my parents let me play outside all day long, meet new friends, and only worried if I was not home by dark. The news was only on once or twice a day, and most likely, kids were not watching it. Now with social media and technology, kids see the news everywhere. This can be scary and alarming to their little brains.

Kids growing up now are well aware of terrorist attacks and school shootings. We practice lock-down and lock-out drills at school. The impact on children's mental health is becoming a crisis. Studies show that there has been a 17% increase in children diagnosed with anxiety in the last ten years (https://childmind.org/). There have been studies linked to unborn babies that were affected by cortisol changes in utero of holocaust survivors, pregnant women during the 9/11 events, and other traumatic times. So realize that your fear and panic is not only affecting you, but can be having long term effects on your children and unborn children.

I'm not saying you shouldn't make children aware of the situation but most experts say only share what is needed. Please limit the media that you are letting kids have access to, and let them only get information from you after you do research. Here is an excellent resource about talking to your kids about COVID-19 https://childmind.org/article/talking-to-kids-about-the-coronavirus/ . We don't know how long it will take for this situation to get under control, but remember that little ears can pick up big fears!

Instead, use this time to read and play with your child. Unplug and build a fort, design a marble track across the living room, bake, pretend, imagine, enjoy time with your child. Make these good memories of when mom and dad were home playing with me, not memories of fear, uncertainty, and our parents glued to media. Be careful what little ones hear and see. Our kids deserve to feel safe, loved, and heard.

If you need ideas of fun ways to play and learn visit:

https://www.teachingthroughplaylovingtolearn.org/