Supporting Children and Young People at Home
Introduction COVID-19 has given rise to increased levels of uncertainty and time spent at home. Positive Psychology focuses on strengths and people’s ability to thrive. The PERMA acronym highlights 5 key areas for wellbeing that focus on strengths rather than difficulties. These are: Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment. The guide below outlines each area with ideas about how to explore these with children at home. The examples can be adapted based on your child and what they enjoy.
Is someone you love very ill?
How to...
Sleep better
HEAL – The four pillars of good sleep
There are four main factors that affect the quality of your sleep:
How to...
Overcome fear and anxiety
Fear and anxiety
Fear is one of the most powerful emotions. It has a very strong effect on your mind and body
How to...
Look after your mental health
What is mental health?
Sumo Guide to Living and Learning Together - A free practical guide for teachers, parents and carers to support children during the Coronavirus crisis
Get Well Soon Video
Loudmouth Resources
Quiz: Interactive PowerPoint Quiz on Mental Health & Wellbeing
E Book: Lesson Plan E Book on mental wellbeing for Key Stage 2
E Book: Lesson Plan E Book on mental wellbeing for Key Stage 3 & 4
Lesson Plan: An exercise for Key Stage 3 & 4 to explore the support networks for those affected by eating disorders
Lesson Plan: An exercise for Key Stage 3 & 4 to explore exam stress
Teacher Training: Create a Character Technique - Bullying.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) advice and support for parents and carers
Whether you're working from home with your kids for the first time or supporting children with anxiety due to coronavirus, we've got tips and advice for you.
Talking to Children Worried About Coronavirus
If a child is anxious or worried about coronavirus (COVID-19), there are things you can do to help. And if they're struggling with their mental health, Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families have advice to help you support them and keep them safe.
- Download advice for young people, parents and carers, families and for professionals working with children and young people.
Other resources on Covid-19 and mental health and wellbeing
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread around the world, toymaker Playmobil has launched a video to help children understand and learn about the outbreak. The five-minute-long video, which is titled “ROBert explains the coronavirus to children”, uses the company’s colourful set pieces and familiar, comforting characters to relay information to children who might have questions or are feel anxious about the current situation.
The short film is narrated by Playmobil’s robot figure ROBert, who guides children through the facts in a non-frightening way, explaining why they have to stay inside, wash their hands more often and cannot go to school. The video also gives children ideas of ways they can spend their time at home to ensure they still have fun, including listening to music and podcasts, making crafts, reading books and watching movies. It also explains social distancing and the measures everyone must follow to help slow the spread of the virus such as not touching your face and sneezing and coughing into your elbow.
Additional Resources of Interest
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The Anna Freud Centre has put together a document Supporting schools & colleges: A guide to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of pupils and students during periods of disruption which we hope will give some guidance about how to maintain children’s wellbeing at a time of uncertainty. We’ve also developed three videos, one for school staff, one for parents and one for children and young people which we hope will be useful. Information on supporting staff wellbeing can also be found here.
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World Health Organisation advice on helping children cope with stress and on mental health considerations in COVID-19 (attached, with the section on parents and carers of children and young people highlighted in the latter)
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Good Thinking website for adults looking for resources to support their mental health and wellbeing
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Blogs on the Young Minds website for young people on managing anxiety about the outbreak and self-isolating.
BBC Growth Mindset and Wellbeing Resource
Supporting children and young people
Our new, free Supporting Schools and Colleges booklet provides advice and guidance for school staff about how to help children and young people manage their mental health and wellbeing during times of disruption to their learning.
We recognise that many children and young people will have questions and concerns about the current coronavirus pandemic. With constant news, social media and a high level of uncertainty, children and adults will probably be feeling more stressed at the moment. Children may have questions, behave differently or appear more upset and it can be difficult to know what to say.
Talking to Children and Young People About Coronavirus
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Not knowing what to say is ok - Remember this isn't a normal situation. There are lots of unknowns right now and we will be in situations that none of us have had experience of.
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Be honest and factual - It's a good idea to give children factual information. This might mean checking current UK advice and guidance so that you are aware of the current situation. Sometimes if there are gaps in a child's understanding of something, they can fill these gaps with their imagination, which has a tendency to suggest things are worse than they are!
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Give children the opportunity to explain their understanding - This will help you to spot if a child or young person has misunderstood something, or is thinking the worst.
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Remember your child's age - Adjust the amount and detail of information according to your child's age. Too much information can be overwhelming. Try to answer the questions they ask.
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Try to manage your own worries - If you're feeling anxious or overwhelmed, try not to have a conversations about Coronavirus at that time. Children will pick up on your anxiety in the moment, and it may heighten their own emotional reactions. It's OK to feel worried, but check in with yourself first - are you in the right space to have this conversation?
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Give practical and specific guidance - Explain how viruses are spread, and help children to understand that they can do things to help. Learn how to wash your hands together, explain how soap is effective against viruses, sing a song while you wash your hands.
Additional resources to support conversations with children and young people
UNICEF eight tips to help comfort and reassure children
BBC Newsround pages for children and young people
What is Coronavirus? - Help Children Understand
The Coronavirus pandemic presents additional challenges for children and young people as they adapt to new social distancing measures. To help parents, carers and professionals explain Coronavirus to children we're sharing age appropriate resources to help reduce heightened levels of anxieties for young people.
To support different forms of learning, we have prepared: a short animation, a story book and an activity that supports you to tackle misinformation and help children understand Coronavirus.
Coronavirus Information for Young Children
Useful PDF for use with Primary School children.
Self Care for Children and Young People
This self-care resource for On My Mind has many simple self-care activities which young people can do at home. Written by young people to help other young people who are feeling low or anxious. The strategies should also be useful to adults.
Supporting children during school closures
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Expect things to feel a little more stressed - It unusual for families to spend extended time in close proximity to each other and it may be stressful at times.
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Try to have a routine - Routines and predictability can lower stress levels. We all like to know what is going to happen during a day and children are no different. Perhaps create a daily routine together so that there is some consistency.
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It's OK if the routine wobbles - Homes just aren't as structured as schools are and so it's normal for the routine to slip a bit. If creating and sticking to routine is causing more stress than it's worth, then its OK to be more free flow.
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Don't try to replicate school - Home is home, school is school. It would be unrealistic to try to recreate a whole school timetable at home. Most children and young people will not want to do this, and pushing this is likely to lead to tension and conflict.
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If children are working at home, try to keep work in one place - It's important to have a home-work boundary. Is there a specific place where children can do their work and then keep it safe? If there isn't a specific space, then perhaps encourage children to mark that work has finished e.g. tidying up and dancing to a song!
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Help children communicate with their friends - Use Skype groups calls or WhatsApp.
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Limit access to constant news streams - It can be tempting to have the news on the TV, Radio or Social Media all the time but such a barrage of information can be stressful for children. Set yourself times to catch up with the news, and then you can share the key points and highlights with children.
"Alone, we can do so little; together we can do so much" (Helen Keller)
Activity for Secondary Schools and Colleges (12-18 year olds)
InvestIN was founded on the premise that young people should be excited about the future; a future that they can shape themselves, if they are just given the right time and attention by successful people who want to inspire others.
Amidst the problems caused by Covid-19, we must do all we can to empower the next generation to take ownership over their futures.
InvestIN therefore calls upon all ambitious young people to join our 'Compassion and Action Movement'.
We invite students aged 12-18 to deliver the most inspiring and creative message of hope they can muster. For each entry we receive, we shall make a donation to the World Health Organisation's Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund. By contributing to our movement you will therefore help improve both mental and physical health, through messages of hope and assistance to experts who are working tirelessly to find solutions.
Students can enter now by clicking here. The deadline for entries is 5pm on Sunday April 5th.
Students' entries can be in any form: a video, mood board, poem, piece of art - whatever allows them to best express themselves! Entries should be based on a theme of 'Compassion and Action.' Our judges will select a shortlist of the best ones. We will then compile a 'Compassion and Action' collage of these winning entries, which will be circulated to more than 300,000 teachers, parents and students globally, with the names of the winners fully-credited.
Suggested daily plan for primary school children at home with parents / carers during school closures
(thanks to Swindon Village Primary School)
Resources and activities for primary children, while school is closed
First of all, our SCARF online resources remain open to you throughout school closures. So please feel free to make use of them if they can support your take-home packs for children.
We're also working hard now to create a whole new page on our website, dedicated to providing children with regular activities to support their physical and emotional health at this time of great uncertainty and change.
Harold – our happy, healthy giraffe mascot and a favourite with children – will be posting a daily blog: Harold's Daily Diary!
Each day he'll be giving children positive, fun messages about what he's doing to stay happy and healthy while he's off school, separated from his friends. He'll invite the children to join in with activities he's doing.
He'll be giving children ideas for how he – and they – can get a routine going for their day, including the things we all need to do to live a balanced, healthy life. These include:
- Taking regular exercise
- Being creative
- Helping others
- Connecting with others – in ways that are safe
- Mindfulness – learning to enjoy the moment, here and now.
We know that having a routine and structure will be very important to all of us at this challenging time. For children, in particular, routines help to provide a sense of security that will help a lot at this time of uncertainty.
We're going to kick this off on Monday 23rd March; Harold will introduce the children to his Daily Plan. There will be a template version of this that the children can download – or copy from the website – and fill in for themselves.
Please feel free to share the link with parents – it's already live and Harold has put a little message on it. He'll be adding more, later today! https://www.coramlifeeducation.org.uk/harolds-daily-diary
Each day we'll be putting different activities onto our Harold's Daily Diary page. There will be activities for different age groups – something for everyone! These will help children to complete their own Daily Plan. All the activities are family-friendly, so siblings or whole families who are at home together will be able to do things together.
Harold will update his blog at 9a.m. every day from Monday to Friday (there'll be a break at weekends).
Dealing with loss and bereavement
When someone you know dies, the grief that follows can be a really difficult and painful process. People are sometimes surprised by just how painful it can be, and just how long the process can last.
This short video won't take that pain away, but it does have some ideas based on what other young people have said, that might help you through it.
Below the video we've included links to some charities who offer a range of support for young people who may be grieving. You can look at each organisation, read their advice and contact them direct if you would like someone to talk to or need support.
INSIDE OUT
Young people's health and wellbeing: a response to COVID-19
Looking beyond the infection rates and tragic deaths from COVID-19 it
is important to understand the disproportionate impact the pandemic
has had on children and young people’s health and wellbeing. This
report reviews the most recent analysis of young people’s mental
health and considers further their physical health and wellbeing -
learning lessons from lockdown for future spikes of COVID-19 and
local lockdowns too. Click here to read more.
There is a new strain of the virus which spreads even faster.
With the emergence of a new and highly transmissible strain of Covid-19, it is more important than ever to continue to encourage behaviours to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Around 1 in 3 people have no symptoms and could be spreading it without realising it.
Everyone should act as if they have the virus, even if they do not show any symptoms.
Anyone can spread coronavirus.
Remember: Hands. Face. Space
Tagged under: Coronavirus, worried, new strain, variant, sleep, PERMA, ill, NSPCC, growth mindset, covid 19, facts 4 life, self care, loss, bereavement, inside out
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