Scared of corona, children forgot to smile.

When the entire world has been facing the threat of deadly coronavirus, it has also shaken the school and college going students badly. They are confined to their homes like others. Their normal routine has also been completely affected. The schools and colleges are closed with no possibility  of their opening in the near future.

In fact, even before the closure of educational institutions towards protective measures from the corona virus, the children were listening to all the discussions at home and outside about this disease. They were hearing such news every day that thousands of people have come in the grip of corona virus which has taken the form of epidemic.

This had obviously troubled their mind. Here the matter is not limited to India, rather the students in the entire world are facing same problem. It should not be difficult to understand their state of mind when the deaths due to its infection have shaken the old-age people.

They are also nervous because they are hearing repeatedly that no medicine or drug or vaccine has so far been invented for this Covid-19.  The other thing that is making the situation more traumatic is that every person, whether it is from their family, the outsider, WHO, or the doctors, all have been advising them not to come in contact with other people and keep their hands clean, wash them properly, use sanitizer, face mask etc.

Because of all these reasons, the smile has disappeared from the faces of the children. Their laughter and grin have to be brought back. They are noticing the streaks of tension on the faces of their parents, grandparents or other elder members of the family. Not only this, all round discussions about the deaths of thousands of people worldwide due to this deadly coronavirus have aggravated the situation further.

Since children are also connected to social media, they are not ignorant from the Corona related news, photos and messages and rumors coming through Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp etc. The entire atmosphere is infested with this negativity and they are living in the shadow of fear little knowing when and how they will be able to get respite from this frightful and deadly catastrophe?

How to get these scared kids out of this serious mental crisis? Here, it would be worthwhile for the elders, in each family, to maintain a positive attitude and take every such step as to keep the children diverted so that they do not concentrate much on this. They may engage children in playing with them Antakshri, word building game and also indoor games like chess, ludo, etc. Sitting together in the family, watching movies, serials etc. on TV will also prove to be effective in this direction. The re-broadcast of Ramayana and Mahabharat on TV is a great step to combat the situation.  Other mythological serials being shown on TV can also be watched, which all convey the triumph of goodness over the evils. All these things, while diverting one’s mind from ugly things, make one a good and a cultured human being.

You can take the situation like this… suppose you are sitting in a moving bus and noticing every obstacle on road, turns etc and distract the driver of the bus too. So the drive would not be able to concentrate on road and his driving resulting in a collision.

If you want to talk to your child on the corona issue, keep it brief and always positive. Surely by doing all this, the results will be better. Since parents and children are together at home these days, it would be better for everyone to sit together and play indoor games like Antakshari hide and seek etc. watch new movies. Watch as many comedy movies as possible. Maintain social distance as much as possible.

By doing so you would be able to spend your time easily and secondly your children will also be able to distract their mind from corona virus and they would be able to think more positive and constructive. My granddaughter is fond of reading, music. So I always encourage her for that. Similarly, the younger granddaughter and grandson are fond of painting.

I encourage them for that so that they keep themselves engage in it throughout the day. So take advantage of this opportunity. Children are going to their parents’ offices even during summer vacation.

So on the pretext of Corona, we all have got an excellent opportunity to spend time with our families. So take advantage of it. Me and my wife are engaged in Navratri. Children join in the morning-evening aarti. There is a very joyful environment.

At present, children are not able to go out of their homes. They are also unable to meet their friends. Parents should become their friends at this time. One should do a lot of gossiping with them. By doing all this, we will start seeing our children laughing again.

(The writer is senior editor and columnist)