Beyond Covid-19 building children’s champions
Caught in the whirlwind of the Covid-19 virus it’s hard to imagine it will ever end. But it will pass and although changed, the world will return in most respects to its status quo and children will return to learning.
There is no saying at present the full impact of this on society but one thing is sure to continue and I predict to get worse. That is the challenges faced by children.
I have been observing the great lengths that many parents are going to, to ensure the education of their children doesn’t suffer, not least I am unable to purchase a ream of printer paper!!! and I do fear burnout will follow as I learned this myself trying to be a perfect parent when my husband was dying, but thats a subject for another blog.
Point is not all children are that lucky. Whilst many parents may have the time, resources and indeed their own education to fall back on, there will be children whose parents cannot offer this and were already struggling to offer children their basic life needs before all this.
Children returning to education in September will be returning in different circumstances than ever before and may have problems including;
Learning gaps - children may find themselves significantly behind other children who have had intense learning support
Separation anxiety - children will be spending more time with their family and may find it difficult to adjust to leaving them behind
Grief - the loss of a close family member or the increased awareness of mortality can be unsettling and children may not know how to handle these big feelings
Family strain - money worries and family tensions created by lack of work and living in close proximity may mean children are exposed to increasing worries that they don’t know how to manage
Health problems - not all children will have had access to a balanced diet, fresh air and exercise and this may increase health problems
This is not an exhaustive list but it serves to consider the need to prepare for the future.
At Yoginis Yoga we have been working with children and training teachers since 2006, to give children ownership of their own mental health and wellbeing. We did not envisage that a time like this would arise so soon and too such intensity. But those children are prepared.
This is a photo from a video we received from
a parent whose child has been following our programme. This family has been isolated for over seven days at the time due to displaying symptoms and this child started to have a panic attack. Her mum reminded her of her breathing techniques and she was able to use this to calm her down.
I see this in my own daughter who has lived this teaching and is now 13, it certainly has paid off as she told me ‘mum you don‘t need to tell me what to do, I’ve got it all planned‘, she does her work, gets exercise and only eats what she needs and I can work alongside her to carry on our mission of helping bring this to all children. To do this we need childcare providers and teachers to train in our unique programmes which offer a complete solution to delivering mental health and wellbeing to children, which is child led and owned to give them skills to call on when difficult times like these arise.
It is a great time to access our training programmes as these are delivered online and are CPD accredited and approved by the Childrens Activities Association as industry standard and ensure your organisation have a solution in place to meet changes to the Education Act coming in September 2020. Our programmes are suitable for those working with children from 2-11 years.
For more information contact us www.yoginisyoga.uk/enquiry-form
For free resources visit
www.yoginisyoga.uk/free-resources
For parent resources visit
www.yoginisyoga.uk/parent-zone