During the Covid-19 pandemic, lots of people are feeling less secure and missing their usual routines. But just as doing exercise improves physical health, you and your child can do activities to boost their mental health.

How to help children cope with stress and anxiety during the pandemic:
It is important to understand how you can help your child deal with the stress and anxiety that they might be feeling during this difficult period:

Ways to Wellness:
Here is some simple, easy to follow, guidance to help aid mental wellbeing.

Mindfulness Meditation:
Meditation can produce a deep state of relaxation and a tranquil mind. During meditation, you focus your attention and eliminate the stream of jumbled thoughts that may be crowding your mind and causing stress. This process may result in enhanced physical and emotional well-being.

Creating Routine:
We’ve all experienced changes in our lives and routines, especially children  that can’t go to school. Create a new routine together to help your child feel more secure. Use the timetable attached at the bottom of the page (a picture of it below) to create a visual timetable with your child. Children can draw or write in the timetable or cut out and stick images of our suggested activities below. Remember, it is important to have time to relax:


Worry Jar:
Your child may be worrying about a lot of things right now. Health, school, friends, family and more. They might ask you about their worries. A Worry Jar is a place for your child to put their worries so they don’t have to think about them all the time. Find a jar or any container, and decorate it if you like. If you haven’t got a spare jar, you can write or draw on the picture on the following page. Help your child write their worries on pieces of paper. Fold them up and put them in the jar, and close the jar. Choose 10-15 minutes a day (but not right before bed) for ‘Worry Time’. Children can open the Worry Jar, look inside and worry as much as they want. They can read all the worries or focus on one or two. Have a timer to show that Worry Time is over. Close the jar to put their worries away. At some point, your child may tell you that they’ve stopped worrying about something they’ve put in the jar, and they can tear up that worry and throw it away. Enjoy these times together!

There are lots of other superb activities that can help boost a child's mental wellbeing at: https://www.partnershipforchildren.org.uk/what-we-do/childrens-wellbeing-activities-for-teaching-staff-and-families.html