What corona does to our children and how parents can support them.
What impact is the coronavirus crisis having on my children? Parents are often left alone with this question. When people talk about children and the corona crisis, it's usually about care and schooling. However, many studies have shown that children are struggling with far-reaching psychological effects such as loneliness, depression and even eating disorders. pme parenting consultant Christian Keller gives parents tips on how to get their children through the coronavirus period while remaining as relaxed as possible.
The COPSY (Corona and Psyche) study by the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf shows that more than 70% of the children surveyed feel emotionally burdened by the corona crisis. This is reflected in anxiety, stress and depression, among other things. The risk of mental health problems such as sleep disorders or headaches and stomach aches has also doubled. According to the COSPY study, the second lockdown has exacerbated these effects.
At the same time, children and therefore parents are paying less attention to their health. Children are eating more sweets and exercising less, and media consumption has risen sharply. In the second lockdown, twice as many children are no longer doing any sport at all compared to the spring. The coronavirus pandemic trend is therefore also affecting children and young people.
The head of the study, Prof. Dr. Ulrike Ravens-Sieberer, was very surprised at the high degree of deterioration in children's mental health when evaluating the approximately 2,500 questionnaires. Children from socially disadvantaged families are particularly affected. Low income, combined with cramped living space, promotes the occurrence of mental health problems. The lack of opportunity to withdraw and the lack of daily structure due to the lockdown also lead to arguments and conflicts within the family.
The study �Kind sein in Zeiten von Corona� by the German Youth Institute also confirmed the observation that children from financially disadvantaged families are more likely to struggle with emotional problems. Family difficulties increase children's feelings of loneliness and thus also behavioral problems. The study showed that children who have siblings to play with get through the pandemic better, while older children are particularly helped by contact with friends and teachers.
The clinic for child and adolescent psychosomatics in Munich-Schwabing reports that the pandemic has led to an increase in eating disorders, particularly among young people. The coronavirus crisis is acting like a magnifying glass here. Problems that are already latent are really coming to the fore due to the lack of an everyday routine. As long as the children go to school, they have a clear structure. They are also under a certain amount of social control through contact with classmates and teachers, which encourages them to eat. Alone at home, they now have all the time in the world to think about their bodies and eating habits.
Parents often feel helpless when their children become mentally unstable. In order to get children through the pandemic well, it is important to offer more counseling for parents. pme parent counselor Christian Keller reports that there is a great need for parents to talk. Many parents feel alone despite having a family and would like to talk to like-minded people.
To help children get through the coronavirus period with less stress, it is important that parents also become more relaxed. Christian Keller's advice is to structure everyday life as well as possible and to really make time for it. A practical way to do this is to draw up a weekly schedule in which you prioritize the most important things before frantically trying to work through the things that need to be done.
Also plan times when the children can be expected to be alone. In addition to a time structure, spatial separation is also important to avoid cabin fever.
A practical tip is to introduce a traffic light system for the office. Green means that the child encounters open doors, yellow means that you can be approached in urgent cases and red means that you must not be disturbed under any circumstances. A system like this creates a sense of expectation, for children and parents alike.
Another measure for good cooperation is to set up a family council, which is held weekly. This is where the family discusses how they want to get through the week together. What needs do I have? How do we want to get out and about? It's not just the children's needs that count, but also those of the parents. Also involve the children in the household. This creates structure for the children and takes the pressure off you as parents.
One routine that is very important to Christian Keller and his family is eating together. This is when they don't talk about school and work, but actually press the break button.
If serious conflicts do arise or children suffer from problems at school, it is important to take your time, show understanding and not add to the pressure. Even in the event of disputes about excessive media consumption, you should look at the usage times together with the child in a trusting relationship and talk about the meaningfulness of the consumption. The way in which you communicate is particularly important in these difficult times and it is essential to create a communicative, non-violent environment for children.
To ensure that the children are doing well, it is important that you as parents don't miss out either. Christian Keller emphasizes that parents need to take care of themselves so that they don't transfer their stress and anxiety onto their children, whether that means taking time out for a lunch break or treating themselves to a nice dinner from the delivery service. Of course, the framework factors are different in every family. The key is to face the challenges as calmly as possible and not expect everything to work out.
Christian Keller ist Produktverantwortlicher f�r Elternberatung beim pme Familienservice.