How To Keep Children Safe During Coronavirus? Expert Tips For Guidance

Coronavirus fear is continuously growing and people are staying at their homes. Governments all over the world are requesting their residents to stay at home to control the spread of the virus. The restrictions by the governments are changing on a daily basis due to the ever changing situation of the COVID-19.

Staying at home is the best option to protect yourself and others from a virus but this is very much tough! This is very difficult when you have young kids at your home. It is a fact that we love to socialize and want to go out for different activities. In comparison to adults, children have more desire to go out and play. But the problem with taking them out is that they sneeze, cough, wipe their nose, and try to put everything in their mouth. This will increase the chance of virus infection in comparison to staying at home.

In the following blog, we will look at the important things that parents should keep in mind to keep their children safe from coronavirus. Furthermore, we are also going to provide the expert opinion as answer to parent’s questions:

Limiting Social Contact

According to the guidelines from various health authorities, limiting social contact and keeping a distance of six feet between you and the next person is important to keep yourself safe from the infection. But there is no way that kids are going to follow the calculation.

Most of the parents are asking two important questions, for how long they have to stay inside with their kids and what they should do?

In the current situation, most of the public places like parks, malls, theatre, and more are closed. Furthermore, schools, libraries, and museums are also closed. So, this makes the situation worse and parents are worried about what they should do? To help those parents, below are the recommendation by the experts and the answers to their frequently asked questions:

1-Taking Kids Out to Play-A Good Idea?

Your kids will be continuously telling you to take them out as they are not able to understand the severity of the current situation. As they are staying at home, they might be thinking that it is a vacation but that’s not the case. Every kid loves to go out and play in the park with their friends. They need to go out to have some fresh air and do some activity. Most of the parents will consider that in the current situation backyard will be fine and the only option. But kids may not be happy to play there for a long time.

Keeping the above scenario in mind, one of the experts (Meghan McGinty; Affiliate Associate Professor at the University of Washington School of Public Health) says that parents should think about parks instead of playgrounds. The playing area should be big enough to maintain a six-foot distance. Children should bring their own bat, balls, toys, and parents should clean them after every visit. This will become a part of your routine and will control the spread of germs within a family.

2-What About Using Playground Equipment?

The risk gets high if the child will be using the equipment in the ground as many kids already touch it during playing. We all know that kid touches almost every surface so it will not be possible for the parents to wipe down every surface. Meghan McGinty says that keeping the toddlers away is not easy once they will go to the playground. But a huge number of kids will be using the same equipment, so it is not safe for allowing your child to use playground equipment.

3-Allowing More Kids to Play Together?

According to Dr. John Williams (Chief of Division Pediatric Infectious Diseases at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh said if more kids will be playing, then chances of virus spread are increased. When your child will be playing with the same kid, then parents can understand the level of exposure.

According to Meghan McGinty, when playing inside, children should maintain a six-foot distance, they should not share the drinks, food and should place their elbow on their mouth when sneezing. Furthermore, when they walk inside the house, they should wash their hands before doing anything else. Parents should not forget to clean the high-touch areas like switches, doorknobs, remote controls, and handles.

4-Should Children Visit Their Grandparents?

No, they should not because children hug, kiss, and love to sit on the lap of their grandparents. According to Meghan McGinty, people over 60 years old who have chronic medical conditions are at high risk. It is not suitable for kids to visit them and not a good time for them to do babysitting. It will be best for grandparents to stay indoors and minimize their contacts.

5-What About Hiring a Babysitter?

Possibly yes but parents should keep the few things in their mind as said by Megan McGinty:

• Parents should hire a babysitter who has CPR certification and first aid knowledge.
• Do ask if they have been in contact with a person who has coronavirus symptoms in the previous days.
• To be sure, check the fever, if the fever is above 100.4F, coughing, and shortness of breath, then that person should stay at home. Remember that the virus can spread from one person to another before they show the symptoms.
• Bonus point for those babysitters who have kept themselves in 14-day self-isolation.

Hopefully, now parents will have answers to their questions and they will be able to save their children from coronavirus.

Is your child frequently using mobile devices during the lockdown? To minimise the screen time and keep a track of other online activities, parents should download the FamilyTime app. The app will enable parents to block the apps, filter the content on the internet, provide app usage reports, and many other exciting features that parents wish for!

Stay Safe and Stay at Home!