Parenting Tips: How to Help a Young Child Understand the Pandemic

By Alycia Williams

A pandemic can be a hard concept for young children to understand. It can be hard to determine what you should say to them versus what you shouldn’t say. You want to be be truthful, but not too truthful to the point where you scare them. It’s a thin line to walk, but as the parent you have to figure out what to say when your child asks these tough questions. You’ll definitely need some parenting tips for talking to your children about the pandemic.

Are you trying to figure out what to say to your young kids about the pandemic? Here is some parenting tips for what to say to them?

1. Find out what your child already knows: Ask questions to determine what you’re up against. Ask “What are you hearing about coronavirus? What questions do you have? Do you have questions about the new sickness that’s going around?” This gives you a chance to learn how much kids know and to find out if they’re hearing the wrong information.

Related Link: Parenting Tips on Lockdown: How to Keep Your Family Entertained

2. Be honest: Answer there questions the best way you can and as truthful as possible. Don’t offer more detail than your child is interested in. Keep things to a minimum. If your child asks about something and you don’t know the answer, say so.

Related Link: Parenting Tips for Learning at Home

3. Keep the conversation going: Keep checking in with your child. Use talking about coronavirus as a way to help kids learn about their bodies, like how the immune system fights disease.Talk about current events with your kids often. It’s important to help them think through stories they hear about. Ask questions: What do you think about these events? How do you think these things happen? Such questions also encourage conversation about non-news topics.

4. Make yourself available to listen:  Let children know that if they feel unsure about something, feel scared or have more questions that they can come to you.

5. Provide age-appropriate information: For different age groups you should changing around what you say. You don’t want your teenager to feel like baby and for your young child to be confused. Make the necessary changes to what you say so that if specifically fits the child.

What are some other tips for talking to your children about the pandemic? Start a conversation in the comments below!