{"id":1319,"date":"2020-04-23T15:36:20","date_gmt":"2020-04-23T13:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learning.bishops.org.za\/bsu2022\/?p=1319"},"modified":"2025-05-28T14:41:45","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T12:41:45","slug":"parenting-tips-during-a-pandemic-from-the-new-prep-psychologist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bishops.org.za\/bsu\/2020\/04\/23\/parenting-tips-during-a-pandemic-from-the-new-prep-psychologist\/","title":{"rendered":"Parenting tips during a pandemic – from the new Prep psychologist"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"This term we welcome Laura Cook<\/strong> as the newly appointed Educational Psychologist at Bishops Prep.\u00a0 Here are some tips that she provides to help parents with the emotional challenges that arise as a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic.<\/em><\/p>\n

Dear Parents<\/p>\n

Starting the new term amid the constraints and uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic requires the school community to be dynamic in the way that children access the curriculum.\u00a0 Children will pursue remote learning, requiring parents to straddle the line between being teacher and parent, whilst also meeting the demands of their own jobs remotely.\u00a0 As the newly appointed educational psychologist at Bishops Prep, I feel it is important to assist parents with the emotional challenges that could be faced in this unique set up.\u00a0 My areas of interest and experience are in learning as well as in parent-child relationships, areas intersecting significantly now.\u00a0 Accordingly, I provide some guidelines that may be useful to the school community.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Maintain a good relationship with your child<\/strong>. At the end of the day, the relationship between parents and their child is of utmost importance to the child\u2019s well-being.\u00a0 Accordingly, balance is needed between assisting children educationally and being the nurturing and fun parent.\u00a0 It is easy to fall into a dynamic of nagging and power struggles, and time spent with children revolving exclusively around educational tasks.\u00a0\u00a0 Set aside quality time every day that involves fun, silliness and laughter.\u00a0 This could be playing board games, sports activities in the back garden or rough and tumble.\u00a0 Many parents have more flexibility in their days than usual to connect with their children.\u00a0 I encourage you to embrace this.\u00a0<\/li>\n
  2. Keep days structured<\/strong>. Structure will help children to know what to expect during the day and could prevent conflict when it comes to work times.\u00a0 Keep to regular bedtimes and wake-ups.\u00a0 Set specific times for schoolwork in the day.\u00a0 Negotiate this, as it will make children take ownership so they will be more likely to comply.\u00a0 Be flexible in the sense that sometimes changes may be needed to the schedule, depending on what is found to work.<\/li>\n
  3. Encourage physical activity<\/strong>. Physical activity is important for mental health and learning.\u00a0 Exercise assists with attention and alertness for learning and provides an outlet for pent-up energy.\u00a0 Obviously, this will require some creativity.\u00a0 If you have a garden, play sport.\u00a0 Set up family tournaments and competitions.\u00a0 Build obstacle courses, inside or outside.\u00a0 There are many online resources for ideas.\u00a0<\/li>\n
  4. Manage screen time<\/strong>. Devices are playing an essential role in our lives right now, to stay connected and to learn and work remotely.\u00a0 Understandably many parents are loosening rules of screen time as they come to grips with managing childcare, maintaining the home and working remotely.\u00a0 Make sure that screen time is not at the expense of play, outdoor activities, learning and sleep.<\/li>\n
  5. Have grace<\/strong>. Go easy on yourself and your child and manage expectations.\u00a0 We are all in unchartered territory.\u00a0 There will likely be a lot of trial-and-error in navigating the remote learning.\u00a0 Take a deep breath, laugh and alter your plans and expectations as necessary.\u00a0<\/li>\n
  6. Contain emotions<\/strong>. Stress and anxiety are heightened in society presently.\u00a0 Children will pick up and feed off this.\u00a0 Changes in routines, isolation from special friends and family and limiting of movement will be very frustrating.\u00a0 Expect children to be emotional, perhaps playing out behaviorally.\u00a0 Children do not yet have the cognitive maturity to regulate emotions.\u00a0 Children need parents to be understanding and comforting.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    During this strange and scary time there are also opportunities.\u00a0 The unknown engenders creativity and dynamism, which can be seen in the school context.\u00a0 Confinement provides the unique opportunity for extensive quality time with your children, which can strengthen family relationships.\u00a0 Embrace the good.<\/p>\n

    If you require advice or counsel during this time on emotional or learning support matters, you are welcome to contact me lcook@bishops.org.za<\/a> .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This term we welcome Laura Cook as the newly appointed Educational Psychologist at Bishops Prep.\u00a0 Here are some tips that she provides to help parents with the emotional challenges that arise as a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Dear Parents Starting the new term amid the constraints and uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic requires […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[30,69,70],"class_list":["post-1319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parenting","tag-covid-19","tag-parent-child-relationships","tag-parenting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bishops.org.za\/bsu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bishops.org.za\/bsu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bishops.org.za\/bsu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bishops.org.za\/bsu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bishops.org.za\/bsu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1319"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bishops.org.za\/bsu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2745,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bishops.org.za\/bsu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319\/revisions\/2745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bishops.org.za\/bsu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bishops.org.za\/bsu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bishops.org.za\/bsu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}