![]() ![]() Remarkably, >75% extremely (50% experience more minor challenges in communication, perception, cognition, attention, regulatory, and executive function that can adversely impact educational and social function resulting in physical, behavioral, and social health issues in adulthood. Koplewicz, MD, is the president of the nonprofit Child Mind Institute and the author of “The Scaffold Effect: Raising Resilient, Self-Reliant, and Secure Kids in an Age of Anxiety.Advances in obstetrics and neonatal medicine have resulted in improved survival rates for preterm infants. If we don’t, our children will lose even more of their childhoods to this virus. If enough parents and teachers start scaffolding our kids now, we ease them back into the social world. We’ve asked a lot of parents over the past year, but there is one more action they can take to help their children come out of the bedroom and readjust to society. Ask their teachers to start calling on them once or twice per Zoom class. Take them on walks and encourage them to talk to the people you meet. Gently urge them to set up daily FaceTime dates with friends. Most importantly, encourage kids to get back into the social fray via exposure to human interaction. Ease a child’s anxiety by reestablishing household routines and rules as much as possible. A lot of house rules have fallen by the wayside (like TV and gaming restrictions). Many of our structural norms - like getting on the school bus and going to work - have been upended by the pandemic. Structure routines and schedules to give a child a sense of security. If a child needs a tutor or a therapist, don’t wait for his or her symptoms to become severe to find help. Assure them that you understand their fears and concerns. Support them with empathy, validation and intervention. To scaffold an anxious child - or any child - for social reentry in the coming months: But you can give kids armor by creating a loving scaffold to help them grow. You can’t protect a child from the trials of life. Particularly now, there is no instant fix for kids who are navigating social, academic and emotional challenges that we have no experience with. ![]() However, you can’t put a Band-Aid on a social rejection. If your kid falls and scrapes his knee, your instinct is to put a Band-Aid on it, and say, “I’ll make it better.” They go back to playing and you feel good about having done your job as a fixer well. We’re socialized for the fixer/protector role, to step in and take care of the problem. Some anxious children who flourished at home during lockdown will struggle reengaging.įor parents, backing off and letting kids struggle is sometimes the hardest thing to do. To readjust to “in-real-life” interactions with peers, they may have to go through some trial and error. The reality that we all struggled (and still struggle) to accommodate to has become normal for our children. This highlights a peculiar power of the pandemic and the resilience of children. Kids who've been cooped up and isolated will need to spread their wings and take chances. Parents who are struggling with burnout, anxiety and isolation have to now adjust to the next “new normal” for their children: letting them go. But we can’t underestimate how destabilizing reentry will be. The coronavirus vaccine hopes to “normalize” life for young people and bring them back to school, activities and friends.
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