Helen’s Fostering Blog
Helping Children Understand the Coronavirus
I think it is fair to say that the Coronavirus has taken us all completely by surprise.
We are in unchartered waters which as adults is hard enough to understand and digest so its easy to assume that our children will struggle with it also. It can’t have helped that they became unwell themselves on Monday with a slight temperature and cough.
Normally we would encourage them to go to school with a cold but on this occasion, we were telling them we all needed to stay in-doors for 14 days.
I have heard some of the strangest things recently, my step-daughter explained that her school have banned the words ‘virus, coronavirus and COVID 19’, personally this seemed like the worse thing we could do, implying just the words themselves are so bad that we shouldn’t even say them.
In our home we are approaching this the same way we do anything else; we talk about it openly.
I have spent the day today contacting Beth and Harry’s school friends seeing if we are able to stay in touch via facetime now that the schools have been closed. So far all their friend’s parents have come back and agreed that this is a brilliant idea and will schedule in time for them to stay in touch.
I am hopeful that in time this will extend to meeting up with their friends for some time out playing in the fresh air.
I have also contacted their sister, brother and grandparents in the hope we will be able to do the same with them. We are very aware that just simply speaking to their family will help put their minds at ease regarding their loved-one’s health.
Obviously, Beth and Harry are concerned that their Grandparents could die simply because of their age. Beth and Harry raised their concerns regarding their baby brother today, wondering if perhaps he too might not survive if he caught the virus. Harry has expressed his concerns that I will die as I have asthma.
This must feel like a terrifying time for these children, to have such big worries on such little shoulders. Obviously, we have tried to put their minds at ease explaining that my asthma for instance is well managed, we are healthy, active and are following all the advice provided to us.
We will keep them safe and ourselves.
For the time being we are all enjoying this extra time we are getting to spend together as a family. There are some positives to all of this, we can take time to appreciate all that we have and enjoy time together without rushing around all the time.
Its time to sit and watch movies together and take a stroll on a Monday morning after breakfast, rather than dashing off on the school run.
Helen – A Blogging Foster Carer
