This chart from Willow Counseling in the UK encourages us to “Just Be” during the coronavirus pandemic in order to maintain mental health. In a constantly changing world, it is important that we find a new normal for ourselves and our kids rather than imposing ideas about how things should be.
For more information and resources related to Covid-19, please visit our Covid-19 (Coronavirus) Resource Page.
These charts from Willow Counseling in the UK explain how your personality type impacts your reaction to Coronavirus. It explains the unique struggles that introverts and extroverts might be experiencing and offers tips for each personality type.
For more information and resources related to Covid-19, please visit our Covid-19 (Coronavirus) Resource Page.
Name: Fidget Cube
Category: Manipulable
Coping: Physical, Distraction, Soothing
The fidget cube is likely the second best known type of fidget toy – second only to the fidget spinner. Widely available and immensely popular, the fidget cube is beloved by young and old alike.
In their continued efforts to help parents and kids deal with the coronavirus pandemic, Willow Counseling in the UK has posted the above graphic on ways to destress at home. No matter how good or bad your quarantine is going, it likely includes increased stress for both you and your kids. Using the coping techniques shown above, at least once a day, will help to lower stress levels in your house.
For more information and resources related to Covid-19, please visit our Covid-19 (Coronavirus) Resource Page.
Name: Fidget Spinner
Category: Manipulable
Coping: Physical, Distraction, Soothing, Social
We couldn’t start a series on fidgets without first tackling what has become the most popular fidget to date – the fidget spinner. From the spring and summer of 2017 through today, fidget spinners have become a cultural icon. Kids love them. Parents are sick of hearing about them. And, they have become the bane of some teachers’ existence. So, what is the fidget spinner, and why are they equally so loved and so despised?
The graphic above from Willow Counseling in the UK provides helpful advice on reframing unhelpful thoughts you are your children might be having in relation to the coronavirus pandemic. Reframing is a useful Thinking Coping Skill included in the The Super Simple Feelings Management Technique [SSFMT] which is part of the Stand Strong component of our Hope 4 Hurting Kids Jump In! Stand Strong! Rise Up! Comprehensive Emotions Management Plan.
For more information and resources related to Covid-19, please visit our Covid-19 (Coronavirus) Resource Page.
Everywhere you look on social media these days, there is talk of families fighting and dealing with the impacts of the Covid-19 quarantine. The fact of the matter is that much of what your children might be exhibiting actually relates to Covid-19 sadness.
As illustrated in the graphic above, for children, sadness can often be disguised as one of the following:
In order to help kids deal with their actions, we need to understand the emotions underlying the outward show. For more information, check out the original article from Erin Leyba LCSW, Ph.D. at Psychology Today.
Name: Infinity Cube
Category: Manipulable
Coping: Physical, Distraction, Soothing
The Infinity Cube holds the distinction of being my favorite fidget toy to date. At first glance, it looks a little bit like the lesser known cousin of the Rubik’s Cube, and I didn’t think much of it when I first saw it. The real measure of a fidget toy though is how much you find yourself using it. From the first moment I picked up, the Infinity Cube has been my favorite, and I’ve yet to find another fidget that comes even close.
In 2018, we started a series here on Hope 4 Hurting Kids called Fidgets 101. As we continue to spend time in our house, and my now 12-year-old son and I were sorting through our collection of fidgets the other day, I began to think about fidgets and coronavirus. Given the change in structure, extra time that many of us find ourselves trying to fill, anxiety and everything else going on, it seems like fidgets could be a valuable tool in helping children, and adults, deal with the emotional impacts (and boredom) of the current pandemic. To that end, we a reviving the Fidgets 101 series. Starting this Thursday, and every Thursday thereafter, we will be featuring a detailed look at, and review of, one specific type of fidgets. We will continue to tag Covid-19 in our posts so these posts will show up in the emotions section of our Covid-19 page as we believe that fidgets are a good investment for helping your kids to deal with the impacts of the current pandemic.
For an introduction to our Fidgets 101 series and a complete listing of fidgets reviewed, please click here.
For more information and resources related to Covid-19, please visit our Covid-19 (Coronavirus) Resource Page.
When it comes to kids and the Covid-19 outbreak, I have two major concerns related to how we help kids not only endure the current situation, but move forward in a healthy way.
My first concern is the impact that the stress of this outbreak will have on kids, and particularly on children who have already experienced another trauma in their young lives. We will deal with this topic in future articles here on Hope 4 Hurting Kids.
My second major concern is how we prepare kids for grief related to a pandemic. On a smaller scale, there are likely many kids who are currently experiencing grief related to the loss of their normal routine. More importantly, given the daily projections of deaths which may be experienced related to this outbreak, it is likely that there will be hundreds of thousands of kids who face the very real prospect of grieving the loss of someone they love either already or in the very near future.
For many kids, one of their first experiences of grief relates to the loss of grandparent. Given that Covid-19 appears to have a disproportionate impact on the elderly, many kids may face that task sooner than they would have otherwise. We live in a grief avoiding culture, but unfortunately, we will all be faced with grief in the coming weeks.