Will this psychologically affect children who lived through it?

[NameChangedForThisOne7]

As the PM was speaking last night, my two children kept looking over at us and my heart was breaking for them that they are living through this. As a child, it must be so frightening and hard to understand. Do you think that living through this will somehow affect children? What are you doing to help you kids through this emotionally and ensure that they don't become overwhelmed or frightened?
Do you think that there will be long term implications? (Will they always want to have a fully stocked panty as adults 'just in case' etc? - lighthearted but just one example I could think of). Will it make them germ phobic?

What are your thoughts?

My 15 year old has mental health issues and she’s very scarred right now, she’s worrying about her exams & not being able to socialise with her friends. She usually meets them once a week for a coffee and cake & will really miss it.

I suspect this will impact everyone so negatively

I think it depends on how long it goes on for. Our schools have been shut for a while and my kids have enjoyed chilling out at home for the past few weeks. We don't know anyone who has been infected though. It's impossible to say how bad or not bad things will end up being.

I think it depends on how ott the government goes on restrictions on movements etc. My five year old was happily drawing pictures of the Coronavirus the other day so I don’t think the virus itself is going to be an issue to children however adults who panic or have mental breakdowns as a result of lockdown will.

My great aunt, who turned 18 in 1945 and was evacuated in 1939 had fond memories of the war. For my granny, 18 at the start, it was undoubtedly the best time of her life. Obviously it's very different for teens now. My mum was a small child during Indian independence, she remembers her mum being afraid and saying blood ran in the streets. They were on lock down too. Yet she has positive memories of this time in her childhood.

For my DC, who are only 5, there are positives to being at home with me all day (I have a very understanding boss) and more free play. I think the main risk to them is how stressed me and my husband may get.

Potentially, yes.

I think there are positive aspects as well, though.
In my case and I appreciate I'm very lucky I'm actually able to spend more time with my DD than I would usually.
I usually work out of home all the hours god sent and on a normal day I'm lucky if I get more than an hour with her.
At the moment I'm wfh and also "home schooling" her. It's chaotic as fuck but I am getting to spend time with her. And getting to do things I wouldn't otherwise do. It's not how I'd have chosen it but its definitely a silver lining

Not for the very young I dont think.Ds 6 is as happy as a pig in shit that hes off school.

I think it entirely depends on the adults in their lives.
I'm not sure about letting them watch the briefing tbh, although i don't know how old your children are. I think watching the news is tricky because children have no perspective and no filter.

It depends. My kids have very little clue what's going on, but my eldest is only primary age.

If we as adults pass on our fear and panic then yes, it will affect them. However if we pull out the positives, use the time to be together, reflect, enjoy the little things, then I think it will actually have a positive impact on them.

In childrens social care there's a theory/ practice area of "protective behaviours" the theory being that children only need to feel safe for them to mentally be safe. And it works, it's been proven to work in war zones and similar areas.

It will pretty much depend on how adults deal with it.

If adults sit at home crying because they can't go out so will the children. So far my friends from country on lockdown are actually reporting that it's all ok, except that kids are getting bit bored. Essentially the best thing, they say, one can do is keep them and yourself busy and do not make it into a massive deal. For younger ones you can do arts and crafts, learning, hide and seek (where you really take your time looking😂), cooking and baking etc.

It's frightening if they see the adults frightened.

As adults, it's up to us to make things as normal as possible and discuss our fears, etc when the children are in bed or outside. For the pp with the teenage daughter, she can still "meet" her friends via WhatsApp on a video call or via Zoom. It's important to keep doing things by another means wherever possible.

And keep some learning going! Brain stimulation and keeping some kind of routine helps

We're all just going to have to rally. It's not forever, and it's nothing compared to the wars that past generations lived through. Hopefully this will teach us all to be more resilient and grateful for what we have.

I think it entirely depends on the adults in their lives.

Nail on head.

In fact, we're bloody lucky to have things like the internet, the phone, online shopping compared with previous generations. We're still allowed to leave our homes and gardens, albeit it for very limited reasons.

I think work this right , apart from the loss of relatives etc. There can be lots of positives.

My Ds is 12 never seen him so relaxed

My 17 year old is working her first job at a supermarket on the tills. She has not been given any support just hand gel. Customers have shouted at her for removing items that are over the limit. She is scared but wants to keep going in.

I am proud of her but worry about the long term effects of her choice.She will certainly always remember her first job!

My toddler is very upset at not being able to go out and about to the play park etc.... she is also really missing her childcare friends. We have no garden or outside space and we do go for walks but for a 3 year old who only knows that there is a bug going around she doesn't understand why life has basically stopped.

They’ll take their cues from you. I for younger children you can make it fun with lots of games. Older children might like to keep a journal that they can look back on in decades to come and to learn about Samuel Pepys and Anne Frank - it’s an important historical event.

I do think we need a little perspective. Of course life has altered quite drastically and suddenly so that is naturally anxiety inducing and frightening. However, children aren’t being evacuated and in turn separated from their parents. Father’s aren’t being sent to war to probably never return, cities aren’t being blown up. The only thing we are being asked to do is stay at home and most of us have internet access so this just means a few weeks of sitting around watching Netflix and browsing the web. It’s not so catastrophic, it could be a billion times worse.

There will surely be many children who will end up with an ongoing obsession with cleanliness and germs.

@Emeeno1 it's not just NHS stuff who are our pandemic heroes! She and her colleagues are too

I think most children live through an emotionally comparable national or global situation on the news impacting day to day life. Wars, threat of war, civil war, cold war, imminent nuclear armagedon, mad cow disease, global warming, Ebola, tidal waves, earth quakes, AIDS, high school shootings, 9/11 and 21/7, the IRA in the 80s and 90s- depending who you are and where and when you lived.

Not obsessing over it but answering questions in an honest age appropriate way and maintaining some routine mixed with down time together doing nice stuff depending on ages - watching films, in the garden, reading - and working on the assumption it'll be over in a few months so is just a temporary blip is usually the best approach to staying balanced.

I also think it's down to the adults in their lives, if the parents are anxious then so will the kids be.

Something I thought about is also the impact on the developing immunity of babies and toddlers. Normally they would be in contact with lots of germs from family, friends and environment which is considered necessary to build up their immune system. They are now living in a bubble.

Re kids being overly obsessive about cleanliness in the future - It's important to get the message to them that it's because we haven't been exposed to the germs before that we are in this predicament. This is a one off incident and we need to be scrupulous now but normally we need some germs to keep us healthy and our immune systems working. Obsessive cleaning in the future will damage our own bodies ability to build up our immune systems.