It was a routine game of schoolyard tag â except the children had dubbed this version âcoronavirus.â The kids ran around and tagged one another, but instead of being âit,â they âcaughtâ the virus.
Children like the ones a reporter saw playing recently at a school in Washington, D.C., are becoming more aware of the coronavirus â though they may not fully understand it or know how seriously to take it â as it begins to affect their daily lives with school closures and event cancellations, restrictions on travel, and the NBA nixing the rest of its season.
Many parents are now deciding how to talk to their children about the virus. Some said they are checking in daily, while others worry talking about it could make their kids more anxious or fearful.
âWe talk about it a lot. I watch the news every morning, and theyâre always watching it, too,â said Nicole Poponi, mother of Clara, 10, and Jane, 12, in the Philadelphia suburb of Audubon, New Jersey.
Both girls said theyâve talked a little about the virus at school, but Jane, who is a few grades ahead, said she has talked about it much more, including in science lessons.
âIâm not really as scared of it. Itâs still not even that many people getting sick here. And itâs less dangerous than the flu,â Jane said. âOne of my friends is really scared of it, but sheâs honestly really scared of all diseases.â
Beth Young, who lives in Fort Mill, South Carolina, said she has decided to limit the conversation with her four kids, ages 8, 10, 12 and 15.
âI donât want to doom and gloom them into being afraid of getting sick because, letâs face it, kids get sick pretty often,â she said. âAnd I donât need a sniffle to turn into them worrying about dying.â
For most people â including children â the new coronavirus, which causes a disease called COVID-19, results in only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.
The vast majority of people recover. According to the World Health Organization, which has declared the outbreak a pandemic, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover.
Child psychology expertsâ advice is to be reassuring, focus on proactive steps and do research to truthfully answer childrenâs questions.
In Kathleen McEvoyâs house in Norton, Massachusetts, she and her husband, Thom Daly, decided they wanted to talk with their 8-year-old daughter, Kennedy, before something like a quarantine or school closure was announced.
âWe thought it would be confusing and scary for a kid if they were told that school has to be closed for two weeks,â McEvoy said. âWe felt like it was important … to give her a lot of information about how this might impact her life even if we donât know exactly how yet.â
McEvoy, 38, works as a paraprofessional at a different school district and said some second graders had talked about how they thought the virus was spread. Some thought they could catch it from eating Chinese food or from touching bats or pigs.
The teacher spent some time searching for an age-appropriate video to help them understand how the virus is actually spread, McEvoy said.
Itâs important to reassure children, to ask whether they have questions and to stress safety, said Dr. Jamie Howard, a clinical psychologist at the nonprofit Child Mind Institute. The institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both offer tips on talking to children.
Some teachers and coaches are working to dispel any idea that the virus, which was first recorded in China, is tied to ethnicity or race.
Seattle Public Schools posted on its website that misinformation has led to fear and hostility, and it urged students to combat racism and bias.
âWe are aware of reports that some of our Asian students have been targeted and discriminated against in connection to COVID-19. This is unacceptable and contrary to our values of racial equity and social justice,â district leaders wrote.
Lacy Hilbrichâs two daughters, ages 14 and 18, are part of an online school that has students from all over the world. They live near Houston, but some of her daughtersâ classmates are in countries where there are quarantines in place.
The virus, she said, has been part of her familyâs daily discussion.
âIn our family we all talk about it, so itâs pretty open and so theyâre not hiding anything from us,â said daughter Ally, 14. âAnd I think thatâs helped a lot.â
Parents should explain that measures like wearing face masks and closing schools are preventative and temporary, Howard said. She urged them to take a page from Mister Rogers, who taught kids to âfocus on the helpersâ â what doctors, teachers, parents and scientists are doing to keep them safe.
Whatever the conversation looks like, Howard said, parents should not collude in their childâs anxiety by refusing to go outside or by buying masks.
âIn doing those behaviors, youâre saying this is really dangerous and we really are in danger right now,â she said. âAnd thatâs not true, and it will make them more anxious.â
