A Conversation With My Son About Coronavirus

March 14, 2020 bsabian Children, Family, Parenting

By Stewart Pruslin, M.Ed

Stew and Kevin Pruslin at Academy MetroWest.

As we all (I assume all of us) now have kids at home for the next couple of weeks, I wanted to share a couple of conversations I had with my 12 ½ year old son Kevin about recent coronavirus events. These conversations definitely helped put him at ease but are just my own individual account of what worked for our family.

He’s generally not an anxious kid but when school closed last Thursday for what was at the time one day, he showed the first signs of being nervous.

The first thing I told him was that it was perfectly normal for him to feel anxious because he’s experiencing things he’s never seen in his lifetime (sports leagues shutting down, surrounding towns closing schools for up to a month, his youth center closing, Little League being delayed, and of course scary news reports). So I wanted him to understand those feelings were entirely appropriate – not just for him, but even for adults. While I’ve been taking things in stride, I certainly wasn’t feeling great about all of this either.

Next, and probably most important in his case, I explained that all of these closures were NOT panic moves in response to an exploding onslaught of virus cases. In fact as of today there are still zero confirmed in our town and no more than 3 or so in any nearby town that I’m aware of. In reality, these closures are deliberate, well-thought-out preventative measures designed precisely to keep these numbers as low as possible for as long as possible.

Furthermore, officials want to keep these numbers as low as possible not because they fear mass deaths, but simply because they want to avoid hospitals and medical centers from having to deal with too many patients at once. While the vast majority of people who get this virus will survive and wind up being fine (around 97 percent), some of the more vulnerable ones may need some temporary care in hospitals and we just have to make sure we try to limit how many people need to be there at once.

Here are some common themes that I have found helpful in talking to kids about COVID-19:

Remain calm yourself
Assure them you’re always available for questions
Be honest & accurate
Emphasize what they can control (hygiene, temporarily limiting contact with others, etc.).

Finally I told him that from what I’ve read, if a kid his age were to get the virus, he’d likely experience a week or so of feeling like he has a cold or flu and we’d treat it the same way. Then he’d get better with rest, fluids, and fever medicine.

When our school system closed until March 27 a couple of days later, Kevin asked why. I think at this point he already understood but I think he was just looking for a little reassurance at that point so I just reviewed what I had told him previously.

Feel free to Google “How to talk to kids about coronavirus” but be careful because when I did, many articles wound up being from a few weeks ago and are already outdated in their suggestions (like saying not to keep kids out of activities.)

Make Smart Decisions

Finally, this next week or so is pretty critical in keeping the spread of the virus under control in the country. While it doesn’t pose a major threat to our kids, the fact that they (and we) can carry it to more vulnerable people like our parents (their grandparents) and others is the real threat.

So it’s strongly recommended that they limit contact outside the family as much as possible, including parties, play dates, and get-togethers with other families. Try to do this for at least a week and then see what experts say. Let them go outside but try to stay at least six feet away from other people. Stay away from public facilities (the virus can live on plastic & metal for up to 3 days). Sharing food is very risky outside of your own family. Avoid stores & restaurants as much as possible (even take-out and delivery is riskier than making it at home – thank goodness my wife can cook!).

If you think you’re sick, call your doctor, the Partners hotline (8am-8pm at 617-724-7000) or the Mass Department of Public Health (617-983-6800) before going to a walk-in clinic. And there’s always 9-1-1. And of course… wash your hands!

Stay safe & clean and email me at any time (Stew@academymetrowest.com) if you have any questions.