Family Tips: How You Can Help
As a parent it can sometimes be difficult to know how to help your children cope during difficult times.
Whether it be a family loss or a stressful life or world event, there are lots of ways we can support our children through a challenging time. Here we share tips for how you can help them feel safe and assured.
Be Open and Honest and Age-Appropriate
Let children talk openly about any fears or worries they have about the situation. Make sure you know the facts and keep information very simple for younger children. You can reassure your child that they are safe and loved no matter what happens.
Encouraging young children to express themselves through play or creative activities can help them manage their emotions.
Help Children to Feel Some Control
One of the ways you can help your children cope during difficult times is by finding small ways they can feel a sense of control.
Get creative and encourage them to come up with ideas for how they can support people in your family or community.
Focusing on others is a wonderful way to relieve our own stress and create a sense of control.
Try using dancing or singing so that it’s not a scary conversation and to make it fun and memorable.
Look for Good News
Seek out stories about all the ways people are being kind and helpful towards each other in the world or in your local community and share these with your children.
Help from Your Centre Director
Our Educators and Centre Directors are experts in supporting and communicating with young children and can help you with age appropriate advice on speaking to your child about current events.
Look After Yourself
Young children learn from watching and imitating the adults in their lives. It helps children manage their feelings if they see that you are calm and in control.
If your own anxiety levels are high, try to find ways to gain some reassurance by talking to friends, family or trusted members of your community.
A break from watching the nightly news might help. You could try reading news updates online to stay updated and limit the time you spend online.
If you have friends on social media who are sharing frightening or negative information, try muting their posts temporarily.
Sources of Information
If you’re supporting your children through difficult events in the world at large or in your local community, it’s important to be selective about where you seek information. It’s important that any information you share with them is factual. Here are some credible sources you can trust:
World Events – UNICEF Australia: www.unicef.org.au
Health Information – World Health Organisation: www.who.int
Parenting Information – The Australian Parenting Website: https://raisingchildren.net.au
The good news is that children are incredibly resilient and with support from you, can feel safe and happy even in the most challenging of circumstances.