With schools closed amid Coronavirus threat, parents across the Valley are using different methods to keep their children busy indoors.
“My six year olddaughter can’t play more for than an hour with the toys so I insisted her towash all her plastic toys in a washing bin. I provided her tear-free bubbles,towel and a brush,” said Ambreen Nabi, a homemaker.
Someschools have provided learning material to the students for completing syllabuson time, but most of the parents find the exercise “inept”.
“It becomes very difficult for me to help my four year oldson with his assignments. Every time I teach him, he gets confused and pointsout that this is not the way we are being taught at schools,” said IftekharAhmad, a businessman.
“I have never been a teacher; this mismatch gets hectic andchallenging for me,” Ahmad said.
He keeps his child busywith the books no matter “he does not see me as his teacher. I am also tryingto help my children paint random objects so that they do not feel trappedinside the home.”
Sincethe outbreak of Coronavirus, people hardly switch their televisions off. Withthe repetitive public safety announcements, the behavioural change amonghyperactive children is very evident.
“Mydaughter is a hyper active child. We can’t even scold her much. This affectsher mental health more. Since she got to know about the Coronavirus, she washesher hands multiple times although she is completely indoors,” said Shahzada, ahomemaker and fashion designer.
She said her daughter also “keeps her separate bottle ofsanitizer in her pocket and provides drop of it to every family member whoenters the home no matter how many times.”
Shahzada said they have bought her four pullets that makestaying at home easy for her and “she loves it”.
For the parents with more than one child and living in ajoint family, things take ugly turn when their children fight among themselvesout of “frustration” emerging from a claustrophobic home environment.
Doctors and child specialists opine that forced tactics ofinvolving the child in an activity can increase their stress level.
“It is the perfect stormfor parents and children. The forced tactics of keeping children indoors canlead to some sort of stress but it is a civic responsibility for all of us. Itis a situation of survival,” Dr Syed Karrar Hussain, child psychiatrist SMHS,said.
He urged parents to spend quality time with their childrenand become a part of engagement process as well. He also emphasised onmanagement of time and playing with the children with some degree offlexibility in the schedule.
He said the children whosuffer from “hyper active behavioural problem” should be taken proper care ofand the medicines prescribed should be given to them continuously as advised.