Even though we have more and more freedom of movement, we cannot disregard safety measures, as there is still a danger. For children, this important nuance can be difficult to understand. How do we get our children to respect the limits of social distance? How do we get children and adolescents to meet these requirements?
It is important to continue to explain to them, to talk to them about the absence of a vaccine, about the importance of taking care of each other by keeping our distance. Before leaving home, take a moment to remind your child of this. It is possible that when you go out you will meet other families, and other children, who may not comply with safety measures, and may try to get closer than they should. Talk to your children about how they might react to this hypothetical situation.
Non-contact games to respect limits during the coronavirus
Look for games that can be played without touching, so that children can participate with their friends, and share them with your children. Games such as hopscotch, movies or races will make your children respect the limits imposed by social distance. It may be that if they meet friends who want to get close and play, your children will not be able to set the limits, and ask for the distance they know they should keep. One solution to this may be for you as a parent to energize this meeting from the beginning., that from the beginning you make a game out of this distance. Before it happens, talk to your children about what difficulties they may encounter in setting those limits, and help them find the way to set them that is least difficult for them.
Turning hygiene into a game
One way to remind the little ones to keep washing their hands and putting on their masks can be to create a game. You can choose a song that marks the time to wash your hands, so that every time you sing it you should wash your hands. You can choose a word that you throw when you want them to pour disinfectant gel.
How to get your teenagers to respect the limits of social distance
For adolescents and older children, there is still a need to talk, to explain. It is important to remember that in the adolescent stage, contact with peers and the valuing of peers is felt to be very, very important. Because of this, many teens will want to see their friends, and they may have a hard time keeping their social distance. To help your children to respect the limits, you must explain to them the danger that such contact may pose, insisting if necessary. Let them know that you understand that it will be difficult for them, since at that age it is very difficult to set limits that peers do not set.
On the other hand, many older teens are going to miss their high school graduation, are likely to miss their high school farewell trip, etc. This may not seem like the most important thing right now, but for them is a world. They have been preparing for these moments for years. Therefore, as parents, we can find ways to celebrate and honor these moments, so that the sense of loss of our children is not so great. For this, the best thing to do is to ask our children, to know how they would like to celebrate it, and to find, from our current limitations, the way to create a special moment.
