10 Best Methods to Improve Kids Mental Health during COVID-19

10 Best Methods to Improve Kids Mental Health during COVID-19 Pandemic

It has been more than a year since we all are sitting at our homes and taking necessary Covid-19 precautions. Our normal life has come to a halt, and our homes have become our office, school, and college.

While most of us have the maturity to understand, what is going on in the world and modifying ourselves and our lives accordingly, children will take more time in accepting the new normal. Although the first few days of lockdown were like a vacation for them, soon they started missing their daily lives, and the regular depressing news of the pandemic and lockdown started taking a toll on their mental health. 

Important Tips to improve Kids Mental Health:

Here are few important tips through which children can improve their mental health during this tough time:

Importance to Green Hour / Board Games:

We all are aware that it is not safe to send children to play outdoors during this pandemic situation, and they will get frustrated staying inside the home for a long. So, they must spend some time with plants on their balcony or terrace which increases their dopamine level and will make them feel less frustrated. Dopamine is the crucial chemical runner involved in motivation, reward, memory, attention, and body movement, etc.

If gardening at home is not possible, then you can look at another option like the old-time games. In the days and age where our lives are being dominated by screens, the board and paper games like snake and ladders, ludo, or 16 chits can be a breath of fresh air. These games will also increase the children’s dopamine levels and will reduce their stress and frustration levels.

Video Chat with friends:

As the children are not going to school, they are obviously missing the chit-chat and gossips that they used to have with their friends and classmates. So, parents should allow some time for their wards to have an informal video chat with their friends. This will help the children to open up their minds with their friends and feel relaxed and connected.

Exercise:

The COVID 19 pandemic is not only affecting children’s mental health but their physical health as well. Many children have gained weight or have become obese due to a lack of physical activity. One hour of Yoga, Zumba, or any kind of indoor exercise must be done to keep them fit and active. If the children follow a normal regular routine for the day to start with their physical activity, it will help them to stay active and energetic for the entire day.

Nutrition:

We all have come across various posts on our social media where people are cooking unhealthy food every day. These need to be curtailed as this could heavily hamper the children’s physical and mental health. Foods that are high in nutrition, such as fruits and nuts must be given to kids instead of fried snacks or sweets. Proper intake of nutritious food will also help to uplift their mood. Food items concentrating on plenty of fruits and vegetables should be added to their routine along with Oats, Berries, Yogurt, nuts, lentils, dark chocolate, etc., and should be a part of their diet which helps to improve the mood.

Proper Schedule:

Apart from their school’s timetable, the children must have a schedule in their life as well. Our brain performs better when it is accustomed to a set schedule. The schedule will not let the children overthink, or form any negative thoughts, which will, in turn, benefit their mental health. Let the daily schedule be such that they can give time to all different activities like music, dance, painting, research, art & craftwork, etc. More they are engaged in creative work during the day, it will help them to develop better analytical skills as well.

Family time:

Work and study from Home have become a burden for most people. But this is the time to take out time for our family members and know about their day and their life, challenges, thoughts, etc. Chatting with family members will provide a sense of relaxation not only to the children but to the adults as well. That is the time to open up their minds and track any unanswered questions or help them to calm down if they are going through any stressful situations. At least ensure to eat one meal together, so as to develop a strong bonding and comfort of togetherness.

Pursuing a Hobby:

Children who are pursuing some hobby like dance or painting are likely to have fewer mental health issues during the pandemic. These hobbies will reduce their screen time and will make them more imaginative and creative. This will fuel their thinking capacity and will make them more productive.

Video Games:

This might sound like a useless method but video games are actually a good source of concentration, focus, and memory building. Allowing your children to play video games for 15-20 minutes a day can be really helpful for beating their daily stress.

Meditation:

Meditation is considered to be the panacea for almost every mental health-related issue for every age group. Concentrating on your breath for a few minutes will give anyone a sense of mindfulness for the entire day. Children will have control over their thoughts and will be more focused on all their activities. Regular meditation helps the children with improved concentration and memory, with better confidence and higher creativity. It also helps the children to develop calmness and inner peace, which is very much required during the tough times of the COVID 19 Pandemic.

Limit News Time:

It is important to know what is going on in the world through news channels, websites, and Apps. But consuming the same news the whole day will negatively impact the mental health of the children. It is better to read newspapers than watch the news all the time. As most of the news channels show the news related to the Covid-19 pandemic 24X7 in a more exaggerated and unrealistic manner. Not even news channels or websites but meme pages of social media just provide the information without any background or fact check.

Conclusion:

As we all know that the COVID times are uncertain, and it is very difficult to predict the future that when everything will get back to normal. But to handle the current challenging situation with a sense of calmness, the parents should help their children to improve upon themselves by following some of the above-mentioned methods.

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Disclaimer: The content shared in this blog is based on personal experiences, observations, and self-understanding through research. The details provided here are to share my experiences with people, only for educational and informational purposes, and it is not a piece of expert professional advice to the reader. The details mentioned in this blog do not bind or compel any person to follow the methods given here. The intent to write and share this blog is to communicate some insights on the possible solutions and methods which can help people to get motivated and encourage them to start living a happy and healthy life.

Stay Happy and Healthy!!!