How to navigate children through a COVID summer

1. It’s time to consider lifting some restrictions. As of this writing (mid-July 2020), relatively few children have been tested for COVID 19. Therefore, there are few definitive answers. However, evidence is mounting that when compared to adults, children are far less likely to become ill when exposed to the virus, have milder cases, are less likely to transmit the disease to others and are less likely to be asymptomatic carriers. Children appear less likely than adults to be the first case within a household. Little is known as to whether children with underlying, ongoing illnesses need specific protection.

2. Keeping kids shut in for indeterminate lengths of time is unrealistic. No one knows how long this pandemic will last. Optimal quarantining — no visitors, no going to work, no school, no shopping and for young children, not receiving essential immunizations — is almost impossible to maintain.

3. Vaccines and medications to treat COVID-19 may not be “around the corner.” Vaccine development requires numerous steps of testing, and every step can (and often does) lead into a cul-de-sac. Moreover, many vaccines require two or three doses, sometimes given a month or two apart, to yield meaningful immunity. And most medications on the horizon reduce the severity of the illness, but are not cures.

4. Social isolation of children tends to cause family friction. (Physical isolation would be a better term for isolation. Social isolation is what you do not want.
The absence of playmates often results in moody and argumentative children with frequent angry outbursts. Children fear that adults close to them may die. Parents become short-tempered. Parents begin arguing among themselves, worsening the cycle. Adult disputes are best kept from children.

5. Structuring children’s daily routines helps alleviate their anxieties. Arrange rather strict waking, meal and bed times.  Assign chores to be done. Plan for age-appropriate reading, exercising, and screen time.  Some children enjoy phone conversations with favorite relatives and friends; Zoom-type contacts may work even better.

6. Get children out of the house. Children need physical and mental activity to stay in shape. Most indoor activities are eventually “boring,” involve little or no movement and are often associated with eating – generally foods high in salt and calories.  Children are more active outdoors and less likely to dwell on the predicaments that COVID has brought them. Plan moderately strenuous activities — brisk walking, biking, sports that allow for distancing or just “running around.”

7. “Green” outdoors may be the most therapeutic outdoors. Spending time surrounded by trees, grass and plants seems to be superior to being amid buildings, concrete and traffic, with wilderness the ultimate outdoors. Family picnics may be the perfect antidotes for a COVID-spoiled summer: getting outdoors, having fun, exercising, distancing from other people, and bonding the family.

8. Swimming is another reasonably safe outdoor activity. The virus doesn’t spread through water in properly maintained pools, sprinklers, hot tubs or water parks; chemicals kill the virus. Lakes and oceans should be safe; the large volume of water dilutes the virus and respiratory viruses survive poorly in water. Avoid crowding in and around swimming areas. Masks may be removed for short periods in the water if strict distancing is maintained. Discourage yelling and screaming; it increases the emitting of viruses, if present.

9. To hug or not to hug young children? Hugging has benefits beyond expressing affection. It may physically lower levels of anxiety and promote feelings that people care for you. Young children accustomed to being hugged, especially by grandparents, may interpret the absence of hugs as abandonment or punishment. Under ideal conditions the risk of infection from a hug are minimal. Ideal conditions include short hugs, wearing masks, no obvious COVID infection-type symptoms, no chronic illnesses, and not living in a COVID “hot spot.” Children under two years of age should not wear masks but almost never become infected. Kissing is a no-no.

10. Playdates may be a beneficial first step in “opening up” social integration. “Opening up” society and the economy are key words today. It’s being done with restaurants, nail salons and gyms. Is it 100% safe? Probably not. But neither are trips to the playground (US emergency rooms annually treat about 200,000 children ages 14 and younger with playground-related injuries, some serious). Outdoor play dates are safer than indoor ones. And schedule playdates with one other child at a time. Choose a child from a family whose lifestyle you are familiar and comfortable with.