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Dr. Eric Spiegel, a pediatric psychiatrist at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, says it's pretty important for parents to be having conversations with their kids about the coronavirus or COVD-19 outbreak. Since Missouri Governor Mike Parson and St. Louis County officials announced the first COVID-19 case in St. Louis on Saturday, March 7, local universities have canceled in-person class, many city events are being postponed—children are going to have questions. "At this point, there's no way they're not going to hear about it," he says.
These conversations can be tricky. To help, these are 8 things Dr. Spiegel recommends parents keep in mind while discussing the coronavirus with their kids.
1. “Parents need to think of themselves as translators and filters of the news that's out there. What you're trying to do is keep your kids from worrying about the worst-case scenarios, the sort of apocalyptic things your mind can go to. If you have less information, you can think about the worst.”
2. “Take cues from your child by listening to what they already know, what questions they have. Meet them where they are developmentally, which is really important for not giving them too much information or overwhelming them with facts, figures, whatever—you want to make sure it's something they understand.”
3. “You have to be in the right frame of mind as a parent. Check your own anxiety and manage that before you talk to your kids, because you want to be a calming presence when you're talking to them about this. If you need to have conversations about how concerned you are, walk away from the kids and make sure you're not adding fuel to the fire.”
4. How you phrase things depends on the kid. "Listen to them, answer their questions, and reassure them," Dr. Spiegel says. "You can focus on what you're doing as a family to keep yourselves safe. For example, [saying], 'There are certain places in the world we're recommended not to travel around the country. We're not going to go to those places.’”
5. “You can educate your children about how the virus is transmitted and that really the best defense we have right now is hand washing for 20 seconds. Give them some time to do that, when you come in from the outside, before you eat, after you blow your nose, cough, sneeze, use the bathroom. We're going to try to do those things. Giving them those concrete things that we're going to try and do as a family to keep ourselves protected is one thing to do.”
6. "The other thing is to say at this point, healthy kids are not being severely affected by it. The younger they are, the more egocentric they are, ‘You are not at a very high risk of getting this or being really affected by it, but it's really important that we follow these guidelines to prevent the spread of it for everybody else's safety.’”
7. If children are particularly anxious, Dr. Spiegel says, "the most important thing for anxious kids is to be able to take their thoughts or more anxious thoughts and to be able to come talk to their parents and check in with them about their worries. Checking in as this new situation evolves.”
8. “Don't overly focus on it, don't talk about it too much. Keep a routine, a normal routine. Even if school's canceled, say, 'These are the things we're going to do today: time for play, time for learning.' Moving from thing to thing. Kids are comforted by routine and by their parents being reassuring.”
The CDC also has guidelines for helping kids cope in situations like this. More information can be found at stlcorona.com. To report an illness, or if you're experiencing fever, cough, shortness of breath, call St. Louis County Department of Health's 314-615-2660. If you have general questions call 1-877-435-8411.
