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?

I agree with the others- children will take their cues from adults in their lives.

My mother was 5 when war broke out- lasted until she was 12- she has memories of it being a happy jolly time!!

I think the 'yabu' bit is, that you are letting them watch the updates of this cisis.
Obviously you can't protect them from the real world, but the tv is too harsh, I did it stresses me.
There are other ways , but watching the updates is scary for a child.

Like others have said, they will only be traumatised if people around them are panicking and letting their anxiety rocket. They mimic and react to what they see.

Today OH is pottering with the cars/ bikes in the driveway and I'm getting DC to pioneer between him and doing little bits of schoolwork but mainly reading together snuggled up.
Resilience people.

Pop not pioneer!

I think if you are the kind of parent who insists your dcs watch updates, or you judge people for being positive, then yes, your dcs might suffer psychologically.

When all this has subsided, DC still have doom laden Greta to contend with. She, and her message, frightens the life out of DC. So by next year, she will be in their lives again.

If you explain honestly, but in a practical and age appropriate way to your kids what's going on they will be fine. More than fine probably.

My DD was really worried when the school closed, though I've told her a white lie we are staying in to do our duty to protect others though we've nothing to worry about. As a parent you have to be a cheerleader too.

I have a 4 year old who is a bit annoyed he can’t get to the play park but otherwise is delighted that he has either mum or dads full attention at all times. He is happy pottering at home and doesn’t seem to notice that anything is wrong. He does know that we wash our hands all the time though c

As a family we are enjoying the experience. We are home bodies anyway so it's a bit like extended school holidays.

I think the children will be fine re MH but I do think there will be tragedies with no proper safeguarding and the adults' MH going to pot.

My only reference point is that my old nana looked back at being evacuated when she was 7 quite fondly.

Depends entirely on the adults around them.

Carry on like tons of posts I’ve seen about children finding it all soooooo hard and picking up on the stress of their adults and you must just cuddle them and put the tv on for them rather than having them do schoolwork then yes, we’ll have a generation of an absolute mess that’ll make millennials look resilient (I am a millennial)

Kids need routine, structure, calm and controlled parents. Turn the news off unless they’re in bed, don’t discuss it in from of them, keep smiling and positive and play it down! It’s not hard but it is tiring.

I’m finding this as stressful as anything, it scares me, a lot. The kids have no clue- they know there’s a virus, and we have to keep our germs to ourselves for now, and that we’re doing school at home to make that happen. That’s about it. I’ll answer all/any questions they have, but carefully and played down.

I'm with YouJust, It will be tricky and awful and change millions of lives. So did every war, Spanish Flu, the plagues in the 13C when our population went down 75pc in some areas, the millions who have died of dysentery in the Yemen these last five years, the Afghans and Syrians etc who're even now freezing and dying, not to mention the Holocaust.

The Boomers have been very lucky. Most of us have been lucky.

Mine just aren’t that bothered, maybe because I’ve not made a big deal of it. Yes it’s a pain to be home all the time but it’s what we have to do. They know that the chances of them getting very ill is minimal and that’s it. None of them are showing any great stress about it and are currently really appreciating the downtown

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

This with bells on. As parents you have to limit how much news your children are exposed to, and show them that this is something we will get through.

Forgot to add, lead by example, make staying at home as fun as you can and they should be okay.

Present selected facts in a child-appropriate manner, and keep the deep and meaningful/scary side of it for adults after the DCs have gone to bed.

They don't need to see or hear you looking scared or frightened (at least not often, once or twice is acceptable and even then to explain that it's a scary time etc but lots of clever people are working on solutions ie follow up with positives.

Tbh , it’s totally going to be down to the way you react and how nice and stable their home life is ..... me and DH run our own business and work together all day so for us no adjustment to being with spouse all day or finding wfh lonely etc.

Our kids are 12 and 11 so ready made play mates - no having no one to okay with. I have found it stressful but trying not to let it show . We have savings and although work will be rocky ALL I care about is not oooding someone I love, so trying to look on bright side .

We spend a lot of time together as a family too so we aren’t rubbing each other up the wrong way or getting annoyed at having each other close . Kids keep telling me they are having “ the best time” but that is more likely to do with new trampoline and no early wake ups !

I’m trying to make it a positive experience , so talk about how many birds we can hear / no planes etc, later wake ups , later to bed, family dinners,

Nonnymum, we certainly will have a mental health crisis if you carry on like that. If you can't pull yourself together then you'll make your grandchildren anxious.

I was wondering this after walking back from the park with my toddler and passing a man and his son, probably aged around 9? We were crossing paths in an alleyway so closer than 2m apart, but only momentarily obviously.

The boy was terrified. Like a rodent in a trap, eyes darting everywhere as he saw us approaching and realised we’d be “too close”, physically squeezed himself up against the far side of the alley and practically RAN past us. Dad seemed oblivious. Obviously maybe he has anxiety or some kind of condition that led to this, maybe he was scared of my toddler/buggy/hat rather than close contact... but I felt sad for him, he was so frightened. I hope he feels a lot better when this is over and doesn’t suffer any lasting effects.

My children are 9 and 7 and happy as pigs in shit at the moment to be honest.

Depends how you are reacting. My 2 boys aged 5 and 6 aren't scared, they aren't anxiousm.but we have been honest and not made it scary. They watch the news and have just accepted this is happening. Yet all their friends seem to be scared and worried and anxious.... To be fair their parents are like this anyway so that's probably why. There is no reason your children should be having these feelings. You need to reassure them and be adults. Be worried and anxious and discuss those feelings when they are in bed

I’m assuming this will last longer than a month. I suspect our children will grow up worrying about always having a stocked pantry and maybe even be wary of social contact. I know my world perspective has changed dramatically. I don’t know that I can ever go back to being comfortable with just going and getting what I need when I need it.