The beloved Fred Rogers Productions series Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood has some useful tips on how families, parents and caregivers can help relieve children’s insecurities and fears, including:
- Provide safe ways for children to express their feelings such as drawing or telling stories.
- Listen carefully to what your children are talking about. Acknowledge their feelings. Give them the words to describe how they feel such as, “It sounds like you’re feeling ‘scared,’ ‘unsure about what’s going to happen next,’ ‘sad,’ ‘angry,’ etc.
- Remember to be calm and understanding when children are being clingy, whiny, or overactive. Helping them regain control of their feelings reassures them that you are keeping them safe.
- Keep routines as familiar as possible.
- Minimize children’s exposure to media coverage.
And the links below from Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood offer advice about ways to stay healthy as well as helping young children navigate new things, including Germs, Germs Go Away Handwashing and A Germ Fighting Superhero videos; Draw Your Feelingsactivity page; Doctor Daniel game; and article on How to Prepare Children for Unexpected Events.
In addition to the materials from Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, PBS KIDS is offering a wide variety of free information and resources to support families at this time. A dailyPBS KIDS newsletter, available to parents starting today, provides activities and tips for keeping kids learning and entertained if they are home from school.
PBS KIDS for Parents is another resource with information, activities and advice to make it easier for parents to cope with uncertain times and keep the learning going at home. This article on how kids and parents can de-stress during coronavirus is a good example, and it also points to videos from social emotional-based properties (like Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood) which can help the whole family. Additional resources include:
- The PBS KIDS 24/7 channel offers anytime access to trusted educational series for kids ages 2-8
- The free PBS KIDS Video app, available on mobile, tablet and connected TV devices, offers on-demand educational videos, and livestream of PBS KIDS 24/7 channel. No subscription required.
- The free PBS KIDS Games app offers nearly 200 educational games, which can be downloaded for offline play anytime, anywhere. Learn more about these and PBS KIDS’ other apps here: https://pbskids.org/apps/
