Who’s talking to their kids?

O-Blog-Coronavirus

“Most young kids will remember how their family home felt during the coronavirus panic more than anything else about the virus.Our kids are watching us and learning about how to respond to stress and uncertainty.” @drbeckyathome

I know that this statement isn’t more true in our household at the moment. Dan and I are having to discuss the changing landscape constantly. I have to keep disappearing into my office to work on sending out communications to our members, and just generally work a lot more at home than I normally do. Those that know me know that that is a scary thought!

The Victorian Government has just declared a state of emergency in Victoria for at least the next 4 weeks, but what does this actually mean? Under a State of Emergency, Authorised Officers, at the direction of the Chief Health Officer, can act to eliminate or reduce a serious risk to public health by detaining people, restricting movement, preventing entry to premises, or providing any other direction an AO considers reasonable to protect public health.

So basically they have to declare a state of emergency before they can enforce the Federal Governments ruling, that anyone returning from overseas travel self isolate for 14 days. It also gives them the power to enforce the ban on any gatherings greater than 500 people. The main focus of the ban is to stop events that are non-essential from going ahead.
It does not mean that any risk has been heightened since yesterday. Schools remain open and there is much debate going on about any closures. Research so far has shown that children are less susceptible to the virus which is great news for those of us that are in children based business, and have little ones of our own!

All of the measures being put in place are very clearly directed towards trying to help our health system cope. If everyone gets sick at the same time people will fall through the cracks and not only those that have this virus and need to be hospitalised are at risk, but the people that are already in hospital with other health problems not being able to get the help that they need.
At Twisters, we are constantly brainstorming ideas with our staff on how we can keep our facilities safe for children to be able to attend their regular activities and not be locked up indoors. I still have strong memories of my 6 year old sending me bonkers in that last week of school holidays. He just needed more stimulation than we could offer at home. He needs loads of brain work but also a lot of physical work every day to tire him out enough for a good nights sleep!

Twisters will go on until a higher power tells us we cannot so that we can help kids keep their normal routine in these very scary and uncertain times for parents AND kids!

If you are a member you have seen our communication about what we are doing to keep your kids safe and even some things that you can do to help us!
My question is, how are you talking about it with your kids? I know that my 4 and 6 year old have their ears flapping all the time. I am very conscious to speak in facts and not conjecture. We are watching the news at night and my 6 year old has show a lot of interest so we are talking to him about it as much as he wants.

I found this really fabulous set of worksheets that kids can work through with their parents, click here to check them out. It gives them a great understanding of what the virus is and what they can do to help stop the spread.

I encourage you to spend some time with your kids talking about what is happening in the world and to help alleviate any anxiety they (and you) are feeling.

Stay safe!

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