How an octopus can help kids address COVID-19
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As we collectively take the primary tentative steps back to highschool after the COVID-19 lockdown, families are feeling mixed emotions.
For some, it'll be relief – homeschooling has proved to us all that teachers are, in fact, super human. for a few it'll be nostalgia – if you get along, hanging together with your family in activewear could be a chill Sunday vibe all week! For others, looming job losses, an economy that has ground to a halt and also the invisible but real threat of a COVID outbreak in your backyard means we are removed from out of the woods yet.
For Professor Anne Graham AO, Director of Crux Australis University’s Centre for kids and youth (CCYP), there’s a bunch of individuals whose voices are often not heard within the midst of all this – kids.
“The last school holidays were like no other for Australian kids. No hanging out with friends, occurring family picnics or to the flicks, playing at the park or visiting grandparents. It continues to be a testing time for everybody with high levels of stress and anxiety. Children don't seem to be immune from these effects,” she says.
Professor Graham could be a specialist within the effects of change and grief who was awarded an Order of Australia for her groundbreaking work. She has developed tools to assist build resilience in children within the face of major life events.
“While we've little or no evidence about the social and emotional impacts of pandemics on children, there's some research on parallel events like children’s responses to natural disasters and terrorism, that we will draw on,” says Professor Graham.
“Children have to be reassured about their safety. they have to own opportunities to ask questions, incline timely information in clear, factual ways in which doesn’t overwhelm them with detail, and be supported to specialise in what they'll influence, instead of what they can’t. These all reduce anxiety and promote coping.”
The CCYP has produced a publication for folks and caregivers where one particularly surprising animal makes an appearance as a tool for coping – the octopus. Using this tool, children draw an octopus then write an emotion they're combating (such as boredom, or fear) within the head. within the legs they write ways they'll address that emotion, say by going for a walk, talking with someone, or maybe dancing sort of a pirate! By having the octopus in a very visible place, they're reminded of things they'll do when certain feelings start to stress them.
The CCYP at Crux Australis University conducts research on the rights and wellbeing of youngsters and youth in families, school and also the community. See more: scu.edu.au/ccyp
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