Back to School During Covid19- Tips for Parents and Guardians
Going back to school feels different in 2021. While parents are anxious and afraid, students are looking forward to seeing their friends and resuming classes after a huge break. Schools have put up safety measures such as sanitizing machines, clean water, and checking student’s temperature at the entrance.
What can parents do to support the measures taken by schools?
Check-in With Your Child Every Evening
This is important to ascertain that schools are following social distancing and COVID-19 government directives, and to see if your child is upholding school rules. Provide your child with a clean mask, hand sanitiser and a backup mask. You can put them in a pencil case where only they can access.
If your child is below 10 years, always check their masks in the evening to make sure they haven’t swapped with other students.
Enforce Healthy Eating Habits
Although students receive healthy meals through the school program, it’s important to ask them what they eat on a weekly basis so as to supplement them with what they eat at home. Add fruits, water and supplements in their diet for healthy, disease-free children.
Offer Emotional and Behavioural Support
Your child may be going through a range of emotions from taking a long school break and having to repeat the same year, going through a pandemic, minimal contact with friends and losing friends or family to COVID-19.
Offer emotional support and think of creative ways to have fun and experience life in a pandemic. Try to attend any virtual or in-person parent meetings the school might have in order to stay on top of your child’s school life and reduce their anxiety.
Talk To School Administration if Your Child is at a Higher Risk
If your child has a high-risk medical condition and needs extra accommodation, talk with the administration and the school nurse to see how the same can be afforded to her.
Practise Hand-washing at Home
Parents should explain why it’s important to wash their hands, instances that require hand-washing and how to wash their hands. For effective hand washing, it’s recommended that they sing the happy birthday song twice, or use a hand sanitiser if they’re not in a position to wash their hands.
For children going back to in-person school, it’s important to pack an extra pack of masks for them. Hopefully, this article will help you as a parent/guardian know how to navigate the new school year.
This article is meant for informational purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for a Doctor’s advice. Consult a doctor before making any medical decision and keep yourself up to date with COVID-19 updates from WHO.
