Blog summary:
“I don’t want to be here, mama. I hate this!” Three-year-old Raghav was having a temper tantrum that started as soon as he exited the car and entered the playground. He requested to return home while clinging to his mother. He ultimately began screaming and sobbing. After living in relative solitude thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic for over a year, it was among their first significant outings.
Parents have been concerned about the impact the lack of socialising may be having on children’s development during the pandemic. It’s time to consider reacclimating youngsters to the big world of in-person interaction as vaccination rollouts proceed. Yet how?
With our 10 years of experience nurturing happy and healthy children, we at Little Big World are trusted by thousands of parents and corporates across India. With this, we would like to offer advice for parents to keep in mind about these concerns and what parents can do to overcome them
Care During Infancy and the Importance of Socializing Children
It is well known that compared to care in a group environment, babies and toddlers do better with one-on-one care. Every expert in child development subscribes to the ‘attachment theory,’ which contends that for newborns to grow normally, they need to establish a ‘secure base’ with at least one major caregiver.
This should give you peace of mind knowing that, despite being compelled to stay at home due to the pandemic, your child will develop into a healthy adult.
Having said that, it is the primary caregivers’ ultimate responsibility to gently acclimate the kid to the outside world and to offer opportunities of peer connections and group social interactions. Babies born before the epidemic experienced a sense of security as a result of being thrown into social environments. Infants born during the epidemic require intentional and attentive acclimatisation to their environment with the assistance of their caretakers.
Tips to Help Infants Socialize Post the COVID-19 Pandemic
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Don’t expect to suddenly return to the pre-pandemic routinely
Accordingly, a youngster who is presently between the ages of 3 and 4 doesn’t have many vivid recollections of life before the pandemic because memories begin to emerge at 2 1/2 years of age. Parents are urged to support their children’s social skill development, but only at a healthy rate.
Many individuals find the concept of returning to normal to be quite daunting, therefore we encourage parents to believe as though they are not required to force their children to return to everything being “normal” right away either. Families must also place an emphasis on social interactions and relationships since they are essential to the overall physical and mental well-being of both the children and the carers.
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Get your youngster prepped and ready
There are methods to psychologically prepare your child for whatever arrangements you make for them, whether they include play dates, school, or camp, to make them feel more at ease. A toddler expressing apprehension, dread, or anxiety about a novel social setting is “absolutely natural.”
You could start with leaving the toddler with a secondary caregiver for half an hour and slowly increase it to 2 or 3 hours a day. Once your child is comfortable staying away from you for a couple of hours or more per day, set that time into a routine. Don’t keep her away from the day care for long duration or days at a time, as you may have to start the process of weaning all over again.
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Communicate with your kids often
Being proactive in asking children how they are feeling and creating those safe places for those dialogues is a very important foundation, especially for young children, as they later become a little older and begin going through more challenging changes.
One method is to attempt bringing up the good things about the socialising, a circumstance, or a person beforehand. If your child has done it previously, assist them recall the experience. If they haven’t, bringing them there beforehand can aid in their adjustment to a new setting.
You could leave a comfortable known blanket or favourite toy with the care giver. Talk about the positive things at the day care even while at home.
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Introduce your little one to New People one by one
No matter how well you prep your kid for the different people and/or new environment, things might still go wrong. Young toddlers often express their feelings by their actions, such as throwing tantrums that allow them to immediately stop the situation.
Parents can control this situation by slowly introducing relatives, grandparents, teachers, daycare care-givers, doctors, etc. It could be a daycare caregiver for one whole week, and when the child is comfortable with her, only then introduce another adult/environment.
Most children adjust comfortably with older people, if they already have grandparents at home, or with young children if they have siblings or cousins who they regularly interact with.
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Consider support if the issue continues
Ask your friends and relatives to check in with you more frequently if you are having parenting difficulties. Make plans to chat with someone you can trust while walking outside.
Children should begin what is known as joint or shared attention by the age of 14 months. Joint attention also involves more subtly expressed social signs, such as looking at or pointing at whatever the caregiver gestures to. Children may interact with others and share experiences by paying joint attention to them.
We advise consulting with your family doctor for help and direction if, by the age of 15 months, your child is not displaying joint attention.
Conclusion
It takes a strong person to work from home with a child, so if you’ve been doing it for a while, we sincerely admire you. But it might be time to concede that you can’t do everything. You can perform at your best at work, at home, and also with your family if you have child care. You’ll notice that you feel less strained and more content in all facets of life if you are not always in charge of accomplishing everything.
To provide your child with the finest assistance possible and to make life easier for you both as a new, working parent, consider a daycare!
