How to explain to a 2 year old?

[meow1989]

when lockdown hit, ds was about 20 months and although he noticed and missed his grandparents and nursery, we managed to get by and didn't really need to explain what was going on to him which was an absolute blessing.

But it occurred to me today, with numbers rising and him back st nursery: I dont know what I would say to him if restrictions get tighter, or, I suppose more likely, a member of his nursery bubble tests positive and we have to isolate with him for 2 weeks (in the interests of only getting a test with symptoms).

I know its only 6 months later but ds is an articulate little thing with a good understanding and he would definately notice more now than he did back then. I'm also mindful of the potential disruption to the "new normal" routine we have started back in to.

I wouldn't want to frighten him (he's too young to understand the virus and in the case of isolating in case he develops symptoms, I think t would be too scary to say he might be unwell and not know it) but I also wouldn't want him to think its just because people don't want to see him.

What have people said to their children of a similar age?

My daughter was just turned 3 at the start of lockdown. We watched an episode of Bing (I thinking it's called Sneezing, or similar) where Bing can't go to his friends house because he has a cold. We also read a book called What are Germs (usborne books, aimed at age 2-5). So she had a basic understanding of what germs are. Then we told her that there were some bad germs around so we aren't seeing as many people, in case we pass on any bad germs. As things went on we said about how the germs are starting to go away because of the clever scientists/doctors so now they say its OK for us to go back to preschool.

Luckily with kids that age, they just take things at face value. Explaining things calmly and factually means they just accept it. After all, they are too young to realise that this is a weird situation - for all they know, this happens every year. There is no need to talk about people dying or being asymptomatic or what covid symptoms are etc, unless they ask. Keep it simple and factual.

DS is 3.5 and he doesn’t really get it. He knows that germs exist and make you sick, but doesn’t understand why that means you have to put masks on in shops, or why nursery and swimming lessons were closed, or why we have to social distance in queues.

I think you just have to tell them what to do, and accept they won’t really understand it. I mean, they don’t understand traffic lights or food hygiene either, but we still make them wait for the green man and stop them eating food that’s been on the floor.

I would definitely avoid talking about death, serious illness etc - I have thought about what I would say if any of the grandparents died (sounds morbid but I work in a hospital so saw a lot of deaths), and I think I would just stick to the standard pre-covid “grandad was very old and very sick” routine. They can’t understand at this age, and you will just scare them.

Bing is a good shout, hes a fairly popular name in this household. I'm not planning on saying anything unless I have to, just wanted a bit of prep rather than thinking on the spot, thank you

I just told dd 2 the world is a bit poorly and we need to follow some rules until it gets better. She doesn’t really get it but I tell her anyway.

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler have redone some of their rhymes and illustrations to show social distancing, handwashing, masks etc. www.booktrust.org.uk/news-and-features/features/2020/april/the-gruffalo-stick-man-and-the-smartest-giant-in-town-lend-a-paw-a-stick-and-a-hand-to-help-with-the-coronavirus-effort/ my year R bubble loved it in June and July. All free

Im definately not in any rush to talk about death etc (my proudest moment of parenting so far is how quickly I thought of "theyre stones to remember people we don't see any more" when ds asked what gravestones were in a churchyard) l want to try to preserve that innocence as long as is reasonable.