The Covid-19 Pandemic – also known as the coronavirus infection – has changed all our lives for the moment. Children are keenly aware that something is different. School is closed. Parents are home. And they can no longer play freely with their friends. Kids will be more receptive to this new way of living if they know why the changes are being made. With this in mind, we have written up a special post to help parents communicate with children about coronavirus and the precautions we need to take to keep the infection at bay. The information presented here is based on the best-available information from reputed news sources and health agencies.
There’s something different about Corona
Viruses are all around us. Our body’s in-built defense system knows how to fight and defeat most of these viruses because it has fought them before.
However, Covid-19, which belongs to the corona family of viruses, is a new troublemaker. It will take some time for our body to learn how to defeat this new invader.
If 10 people get infected with the new coronavirus, 8 get better at home! This means that most of us can fight the infection on our own. However, until there is medicine to defeat the virus, the best course is to keep away from this unknown enemy
Thankfully, there are a few things kids can do to protect themselves. Let’s get them ready to become Corona Warriors!
The journey of Corona
The first rule to becoming a Corona Warrior is to understand the enemy’s every movement. So, how does the new coronavirus move?
You see, many people who already have Covid-19 infection may not be aware of it. It may make the person cough once in a while. At that moment tiny droplets of water come out from the mouth and nose. Covid-19 takes a ride on these tiny droplets.
These droplets fall on some surfaces. And now coronavirus waits for another person to touch the surface. The virus then clings to his hand. And when this person touches his eyes, nose or mouth, the virus enters this new person.
Now that kids know how the coronavirus moves, it’s time to bring out our weapon – soap!
Corona warrior’s main weapon – Soap
Washing hands has always been part of primary hygiene. Now it is life-saving necessity.
Kids watch parents rubbing hands with soap and they follow suit. What’s new is only this. Suppose a corona virus had somehow sneaked in and settled on the hand, soap kills it and corona’s entry into the body is barred.
Washing hands is the first line of defense.
Washing hands make kids corona warriors! And remember you need to wash your hands for 20 seconds to kill the virus. You can ask your kids to sing a song while she washes her hand to make activity more fun.
Hugging can wait
The next strategy to defeat coronavirus is to keep some distance between yourself and other people. The best place to begin social distancing is home.
You can play No-hugging game with your children, to begin with.
Draw two circles six feet apart – one for mumma and the other for the kid. Now you can figure out games to play with one another. For example, you can talk to each other without stepping out of the circle. You can play games like quiz, mono acting, storytelling, singing, gymnastics – all without stepping out of the circle.
This is a 5-minute activity to begin with, which can be gradually increased to longer duration.
The idea is to get kids prepared for social distancing.
And the kid knows: “I’m distancing myself not from mumma, but from naughty corona.”
An ancient story on social distancing
Social distancing is spoken about in the Ramayana.
Rama, Sita and Lakshmana were in the forest. Rama went after a deer to get it for Sita, his wife.
After some time, Sita and Lakshmana heard Rama’s cry for help.
Sita wanted Lakshmana to rush to his brother’s help.
Lakshmana thought that it was a trick played by some demon. He was not in a hurry to go.
However, he agreed when Sita insisted that he must go to Rama’s help.
He drew a line at the entrance to their cottage. “Until I return with Rama, please don’t cross this line,” he said. This line was called Lakshman Rekha.
That line was meant to protect Sita. It was a reminder to her she must keep distance from strangers.
Alas, Ravana tricked Sita into crossing the protective line and carried her away.
These days we draw a Lakshman Rekha around us to keep safe distance from corona virus. We will all be safe as long as we are within the Lakshman Rekha with soap in our hands to keep the coronavirus at bay!
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