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Business News/ News / India/  'Covid-19 an opportunity to create lasting memories for children'
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'Covid-19 an opportunity to create lasting memories for children'

The constant buzz around covid-19 could disturb mental health of millions of housebound children
  • We should not look at loss or limitation with resentment, instead look at it as an opportunity to strengthen family bond
  • The lockdown provides an opportunity for families to re-bond with children and tide over their anxiety (iStockPhoto)Premium
    The lockdown provides an opportunity for families to re-bond with children and tide over their anxiety (iStockPhoto)

    NEW DELHI: The ongoing lockdown to contain covid-19 pandemic has altered everybody's lifestyle. Besides pushing people to adopt a different way of living and working, the spread of the virus in India and the constant buzz around it is increasingly seen as a catalyst that could disturb mental health of millions of housebound children.

    Shekhar P. Seshadri, renowned psychiatrist and professor of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences Hospital (NIMHANS), said families and mental health professionals need to “bring a control over the loss of predictability".

    In a telephone interview, he also spoke about the need for maintaining structure and routine to help tide over anxiety in children and ways to deal with a possible rebound-madness post the lockdown. Edited excerpts:

    How do you see covid-19 impacting millions of youth and children who are housebound due to the lockdown?

    The current pandemic has resulted in loss of predictability, loss of routine, loss of classroom learning, and loss of exposure to space. Families can bring structure to their children’s life through creativity and maintain a routine. All you need to do is structure your children’s days…it will give them a control over the loss of predictability. May be you can put one or two hours of school work in a creative way, some story time, some personal time, sharing some fun facts about each other etc. The lockdown provides an opportunity for families to re-bond with children and tide over their anxiety.

    What are the concerns youth and children have regarding the coronavirus scare and what is your advise to families as a psychiatrist?

    At level one, try to make sure their minds are at work. At level two, their concerns are to be addressed. Look at the kind of concern children have -- what is this infection, and will I or our family get it, why the lockdown, what will happen to my health, how long it will last? What families need to offer perhaps are simple explanations -- about the disease and need for practicing health advisories and an assurance that the present situation is temporary in nature. Simple explanations about the illness itself about the quarantine and about physical distancing will be helpful. At level three, if there is a lot of anxiety and panic, then you need to do specific things like doing relaxation exercises. Anxiety and fear are normal response to an abnormal situation. The way we deal with it in our family and share it with our extended family shall provide a lesson for many people.

    How to deal with a situation post the lockdown? Primarily, because it may lead to a redound madness to recover from a sense of loss.

    Families, professionals and doctors, everyone needs to put out messages that nothing has been lost because you of the lockdown. You have done your professional work, lived your life, you have lived your creativity, you have spoken to your children, you have watched movies. Mental health fraternity will be putting out messages that there is no cause for rebound madness and normalcy will follow whether it is 21 days, 41 days or three months of lockdown.

    No matter how much time it takes, this is something that has put the whole nation to test. And if we can ride-through this challenge, it will be proven that a country of our size managed itself well. Because people were sensible and internalized the enormous need to practice both the equanimity and the discipline in personal and professional life. So, we should not look at loss or limitation with any kind of resentment…instead look at it as an achievement, an opportunity to strengthen the family bond and a success that we are that much more humbled.

    Do you see the pandemic altering the personality of children and youth?

    It depends upon how families deal with children now -- the experience and memory of the current scenario will play a role in shaping personalities. Unlike armed conflicts, the current pandemic is not fierce in nature. So, the society including mental health professionals and parents have a role to play to build resilience, and make them understand how to take challenges in life and convert them into a learning experience. You have to reassure children that we are together and we will get over this pandemic concern.

    Lot of parents, especially in cities, are struggling to handle family, kids and work from home during the current crisis. What would you advise?

    That is where the routine comes into picture. Working from home doesn’t mean you have to continuously work. Here, forming a structural routine means you intersperse your work with children’s task. Ensure that when they finish you are free to look at it, and play games or do story telling together. Of course you have to take care of the office work, but you can’t make your home your 24x7 office. If you stay at home, and do more of what you would do in an office then there will be no difference – which may lead to escalation of anxiety.

    On a weekend, be creative, and imaginative – pull out that bed-sheet and covert into a tent, sit inside the tent and listen to some music with young and older children. Occasionally convert your house into a resort, name it with a favorite place, where you would go on a holiday. They will remember the pandemic as a crisis if you make them feel it, else they will remember it as a time they did all that could not have done in a normal time. It’s up to you to create that lasting memory – positive or negative.

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    Published: 31 Mar 2020, 11:04 AM IST
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