Strategies to ease pain and fear during injections are recommended by health organizations such as the Canadian Paediatric Society.
(Heather Hazzan, SELF Magazine/flickr)
These strategies for easing needle pain and fear make vaccinations and other injections easier for parents and children. They are simple and helpful for all ages, from infants to adults.
For many children, the pandemic means staying at home, not seeing friends or going to the playground. It’s difficult to regulate emotions with so much going on. But there are ways parents can help.
Self-isolation and physical distancing only add to the problems for mothers with an intellectual disability who are at risk of failing to get the help they need.
People hate boredom. Some would rather get a painful shock than sit in a room with nothing to do for 15 minutes. But boredom spurs us on to create and can help focus our attention.
Dads have taken over TikTok since social isolation began. More than a way to kill time at home, laughter and fun dancing times can build family bonds, reduce stress and cultivate a resilient mindset.
Through cooking children learn maths and comprehension skills, as well as how to be confident. Research also shows involving children in cooking helps them eat more healthily.
All families need to establish a new normal.
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A family therapist and childhood development expert encourages parents and others raising kids to focus on the 4 R’s: routines, rules, relationships and rituals.
Parents are children’s first and most influential educators. They can turn ordinary moments into important learning experiences.
Knowing when — and when not — to react to a child’s behaviour is a helpful strategy during the stressful time that comes with the coronavirus pandemic.
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Family stress can go through the roof when managing social isolation or pandemic anxiety. A researcher of parent-child relationships offers practical tips to make time together more enjoyable.
Humans evolved to communicate through eye contact.
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Co-parenting in the time of COVID-19 has thrown up a whole set of new challenges, including potential disagreements over who the child spends time with and whether they should attend childcare.
Around 20,000 students are homeschooling in Australia. It’s a different form of schooling to learning from home while schools are shut due to COVID-19. But homeschooling does provide some tips.
Super Mario Maker 2 allows kids to get creative as they build their own courses, which they can play with friends.
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Multiplayer games can inspire creativity and sustain children’s friendships while sheltering at home
A busy workspace: Dad works while toddler does online-preschool, twins adjust to home-kindergarten and mom, on a break, takes the photo.
(Lesli Harker)
Many school kids may be studying from home as their schools have closed or they need to isolate themselves for other reasons. Parents won’t need to be teachers, but more teachers’ aids.
Some of the old rules may no longer apply.
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Families may want to relax some of their usual rules for digital media use due to social distancing. But keeping bedtime screen-free still makes sense.
Using tech together with their parents is better for children.
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Families should establish new daily routines, avoid bombarding children with current events or exposing them to misinformation, and practice basic methods that keep anxiety in check.
Professor, Canada Research Chair in Determinants of Child Development, Owerko Centre at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary
Assistant professor, School of Psychology, Scientist, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa