Help Your Child’s Mental Health During Lockdown

Jonathan is a researcher, teacher educator and qualified teacher. His research focuses on a broad range of topics and disciplines, including mental health, LGBTQ+ inclusion, special educational needs, critical disability studies, critical psychology, sociology and early literacy development.

Jonathan has listed simple ways of helping your child to stay mentally healthy during this stressful time: 

• Create a sense of routine for them so that there is a clear structure to their day. 
• Ensure that they go to sleep at a reasonable time. 
• Try not to let them sleep in longer than they need to. 
• Insist that they have daily physical activity. 
• Encourage them to eat healthily. 
• Limit their exposure to social media. 
• Encourage them to participate in a range of activities. These might include reading, cooking, gardening, playing, art and craft, taking responsibility for pets and school-related tasks. Divide the day up so that they do not get bored. 
• Use Skype or other software so that they can ‘meet’ and talk to their friends. 
• Limit their exposure to daytime television.
• Encourage them to learn something new.