Plan well and keep children engaged

If the outbreak of Covid-19 has turned the life of an average adult topsy-turvy, you may well imagine the plight of school-going children. It is difficult to keep children engaged indoors all the time, but it surely is not impossible. Especially, if one plans well. Here are some ways that would help you not only keep your children happily engaged for now, but also in moulding them for the challenges of tomorrow.

Virtual classrooms: Most schools have gone on to recreate the campus online so that children could at least get the satisfaction of being in the virtual classroom. While this helps children continue with their lessons, parents now have the greater onus of ensuring that their children participate in these Learn From Home sessions without fail, so that they maintain the pace of learning and stay up to the study cycle, besides the great opportunity they get to learn new skills at home.

Skill development: Each day is a new beginning, a day to start something new, learn something fresh, try out something different. There couldn’t be a better time for your children, and even for yourself, to start learning new skills that would help change the course of life than this period of lockdown. Fortunately, it is not tough to find sources on the worldwide web that offer myriad courses such as sketching, dancing, acting, learning a new language and provide access to learn them right from the comfort of home. Choose the right course according to the interests, suitability, length, day and time preference of you and your children. Many prestigious universities and institutions around the world have thrown open such courses to the public at a nominal price or even totally free of cost.

Right habits: Use the lockdown period to develop habits that are basic and routine such as being early to bed and early to rise, following a regimen of physical workout, keeping your space neat and tidy, completing work on time, eating healthy food at right intervals, showing temperance in indulgences etc., to habits that form the ethical and moral backbone of a person such as being polite, courteous, accommodative and helping; being an active listener; sharing and caring for others; being a well-rounded personality with wide interests in books, arts, nature and spirituality. When you plan your day and act in the same way, your children too would be happy to follow your footsteps and become good citizens.

Family bonding: Suddenly, children get to see their busy parents hanging around at home and get into mobile or laptop meetings as offices too have turned virtual with work from home. But all this shouldn’t make you forget that it’s the best opportunity you have got to strengthen the bonding with your family. By simply keeping aside some family time when you could indulge in fun activities with your children like playing games, storytelling, singing, acting, watching appropriate family shows, etc. which would help reduce the children’s anxiety about the uncertainties that they see around and calm their frayed nerves.

Social media: With so much to talk, share, discuss and interact over virtual platforms, children would be definitely missing their friends and classmates. You could help them find an appropriate time and day when they could interact with their friends through some of the safe socialising / video calling apps. This would not only help children feel connected with their peers, which in turn boosts their self-esteem and confidence, but also relieves them from the stress of not being able to explore outdoors.

(The author is with Global Indian International School, India)