Covid 19 and Children
The worst casualty of the Covid 19 pandemic has been the mental health of children. These sensitive and vulnerable little people brimming with wonder and a keen urge to explore the world got suddenly jolted out of their little joys and forced to stay confined in their homes. Everything came to an abrupt standstill: playing under the warm Sun, birthday parties, shared laughter and jokes with friends… Vulnerable to their immediate environment, kids had to witness illnesses and loss of lives at home. As a result, most kids began suffering from some degrees of anxiety, stress, fear, sadness and loss of sleep. And according to a study conducted at Penn State University, the anxiety level of adolescents increased by 29% from pre-pandemic times.
Symptoms of pandemic-created stress in children
Children can be observed for behavioural changes such as being quiet and withdrawn, aggressiveness, clinging and dependent behaviour. There can be addictions such as excessive use of the internet, emotional reactions such as the fear of darkness, nervousness, nightmares, bed-wetting, recurrent complaints of stomach aches, headaches or body aches, loss of hunger, weight or sleep. Kids might also begin suffering from lack of concentration and interest in studies.
Effect on adolescents
Adolescents may get short-tempered and aggressive, stay confined to their rooms and refuse to talk. Social distancing has given rise to the feeling of acute loneliness among them as this is the time when they like to spend maximum time with friends. They are also unable to share their stress and get consolation from their peers.
How adults can help
Parents need to provide a positive environment where children are encouraged to talk freely without fear of scolding or judgement. Parents should communicate to children that it’s a difficult time, provide knowledge of such previous historical occurrences and how they were overcome, reassure them how doctors are administering vaccinations and soon the pandemic will be over. Taking on the role of friends, parents should play and laugh with their kids, tell them stories and make them feel connected and cherished. Elders should show a lot of maturity and patience with adolescents’ bursts of temper.
How kids can help themselves
Kids should also be made self-aware, to recognise that they are going through fear and anxiety and how they can self help. Adolescents can self analyse, recall how they have previously handled stressful times, whether they talked to people, read more, watched TV, films, meditated, exercised. Kids this way can discover avenues for self-help and application of their stress busters. They should also have regular video chats with friends, relatives, neighbours.
Depression
In case all these measures do not work, and the symptoms get severe, with thoughts of self-harm, inability to do anything or the feeling that life is difficult and kids have stopped eating. In such cases, kids should be encouraged to seek help from various helpline or online therapy. Elders need to keep a watchful eye on children as they aren’t insightful or they might neglect or feel that it will dissipate by itself.
The pandemic can’t be contained before its time, but our children’s mental health can be taken care of by timely intervention and extra care from parents and elders. Parents need to be mindful of their own mental health and remember that kids can be nurtured with a healthy and conducive mindset and an open heart to kids’ outward projection of their inner trauma to the pandemic.