All children living in our country have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. With school closures, quarantines, and social distancing, children are aware that they are in the midst of something really big, but how children process and respond to these life-changing events varies widely.
Understandably parents are worried about how the pandemic will affect their children and how they can best protect their families. As parents we cannot possibly shield our children from all of these events, but we can help our children to navigate these uncertain times and can help them make meaning of what is happening in the world around them.
Dr. Archana Basu, a clinical psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry at MGH, provides parents with some practical guidelines on talking to children about the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically offering age-dependent strategies for facilitating communication.
While these guidelines refer to the COVID-19 pandemic at hand, these approaches can also help parents to open up discussions of other difficult topics, including recent tragic events impacting communities of black Americans and people of color.
Children of all ages look to their parents to help them understand what is going on in the world around them. Younger children may want reassurance regarding their safety and the integrity of their family, while older children may need more support in processing intense emotions and feelings of helplessness.
Some children may be more likely to bring these issues up on their own or may feel more comfortable expressing themselves than others; parents must give their children the space and time to ask questions and express their concerns. Dr Basu recommends that parents should remember the following general principles when talking to their children:
- Provide factual information using age-appropriate words.
- No matter what age, children’s first concerns are likely to be about things that directly affect them.
- As a parent, remember that you know your child best.
- As parents, we have the opportunity to ask ourselves what do we want our children to learn from this public health crisis?
Read More:
How to talk with preschoolers about coronavirus? Experts weigh in (Boston Globe)
Talking To Your Kids About Coronavirus (WBUR Cognoscenti)
How to Talk to Your Children About the Coronavirus (COVID-19) (MGH Hospital for Children)
COVID-19 Special Edition: Mental Health in a Locked-Down World (The Brain Architects Podcast)
Archana Basu, PhD is a clinical psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry at MGH and an instructor at Harvard Medical School. She is currently a research associate at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; her research focuses on the impact of traumatic and severe stressors on mental and physical health outcomes in children across the developmental lifespan. Clinically Dr. Basu works with families coping with severe or traumatic stressors, chronic or terminal medical conditions, and bereavement.
