The spread of the Corona epidemic in late 2019, and the accompanying strict precautionary measures at the world level, caused unprecedented psychological crises for children in particular, and the interaction of parents with the repercussions of these problems on children’s behavior sometimes contained them, and enhanced them a lot.

“He does not want to leave the house” .. a sentence repeated by many mothers, to describe the condition of their children, after experiencing psychological and nervous pressures as a result of the events of Corona for more than a year and a half.

Despite the reopening of some countries and the easing of precautionary measures after a large proportion of their citizens received the anti-virus vaccine, news about infection with the Corona virus is still circulating, until today it has reached nearly 190 million confirmed cases of “Covid-19”, and about 4 Millions of deaths, according to World Health Organization data.

Reem Mustafa Omran, an educational consultant and specialist in modifying children's behavior and learning difficulties, confirms that easing procedures and gradually returning life to its normal course, has less impact on children than stress, anxiety and fear due to news of injuries and deaths.

That fear, which began nearly two years ago, affected the nature of many children who have become unusually resistant to leaving the house, and Reem explains that many mothers complain that their children do not want to leave the house, but rather resist leaving the house strangely, due to the impact of Corona. and its repercussions.

Corona's ongoing effects

After more than a year and a half of life under the weight of the epidemic, there are no scientific predictions for when he will pass.

This situation is reflected on the children in the form of psychological and social problems. "Children's feelings fluctuate between apprehension, fear and intense anticipation, and their situation is between fear, rejection and denial of the situation."

The children dealt with this unprecedented situation in different ways, and Reem confirms that some of them preferred to withdraw, while others expressed their concern by eating a lot of food, and others refrained from eating, and some fell into cases of hysteria, crying and constant screaming, and others did not even want to leave the house. To play and interact with other children.

Some mothers passively succumbed to the crisis, turning their children to screens all the time (Getty Images)

Parents' behavior.. the final

The mother’s dealing with children has the greatest merit in overcoming the impact of Corona or its survival, “there is more than one response to cases of children’s fear, from parents, specifically from mothers,” Reem explains that “a percentage of mothers responded positively and made plans to overcome the crisis peacefully with their children, through Plans for skill development programs, and there are those who surrendered to the ban and home quarantine and left children in front of screens and electronic games all the time.

Reem stresses that mothers who developed plans to develop their children's skills and steps to change the lifestyle and applied them with their children, their children have become more adaptable to changes, and their fear has become less than their counterparts, so that the level of their psychological and social skills was not significantly affected.

golden opportunity

Reem believes that crises such as Corona, are considered a golden opportunity to increase children’s cognitive skills, if they are dealt with correctly, explaining that “the cognitive skills increased in children, because they learned and realized new things, about Corona such as viruses, disease, injury, healing, death and prevention diseases in general.

Some mothers helped their children refine their cognitive skills, and set plans to develop skills appropriate for their ages, such as reading, writing, learning arithmetic skills, and creative activities such as drawing and so on.

On the other hand, some mothers succumbed to the crisis negatively, and Reem said, "Their children resorted to screens all the time, and this had a catastrophic effect in the sense of the word on the children, because they were excessively exposed to screens and at the same time they became accustomed to staying at home as only safety, their skills did not develop, and they were destroyed basic skills, and suffer from psychological, neurological and social diseases.

The fear behind the doorstep, prompted some children to refuse to leave the house (Al-Jazeera)

Rehabilitation

The fear behind the doorstep has prompted some children to refuse to leave the house and resist dealing with others, preferring to withdraw and deal only with the virtual world.

Reem stresses that the social skills of children in general were clearly affected, specifically children whose cognitive skills did not develop during the crisis, so their way of communicating with society was greatly affected, especially with the change in educational policies and distance learning.

She explained that some children are now afraid to leave the house, for fear of contracting diseases, or because they are accustomed to being alone without communication, especially since communication requires psychological and nervous effort that they cannot overcome after a period of great isolation.

Reem adds that one of the reasons for the resistance to leaving the house is the psychological imbalance that afflicted some children due to home isolation, and staying for long hours in front of screens and electronic games.

In order to overcome this situation and return the child to its normal state, Reem suggests gradual rehabilitation by the parents, and this takes place by following several steps:

  • Talk to the child and explain what is happening around him, about the disease, the nature of the virus, prevention, life and death.

  • Family communication with him always, through weekly family discussions, or watching movies with him.

  • Start with home activities such as reading and writing or drawing and colouring.

  • Stop using screens except for a specified period of time, such as one hour per day.

  • Outdoor activities, exercises and prefers group exercises to get used to dealing with others.

  • Meet other children and play with them outside the home.

  • Communicate with specialists to clarify the best ways to rehabilitate them and adapt to their normal conditions of life again.