While it is normal for everyone to have anxiety with the COVID-19 outbreak, children can experience significant psychological impact from it as:

• They may have difficulty understanding the information that is available regarding COVID-19, which might lead them to get worried about their safety.
• Children depend on adults/caregivers to make sense of what is happening around them. When they observe adults getting panicked and distressed, they will interpret that they are also in danger.
• Children have lesser physical and emotional resources to cope with the outbreak and are dependent on adults to help them.

Although children have different reactions to when they are anxious and distressed, here are some examples:

• Become more clingy, fearful of leaving their caregivers.
• Become fussy and restless, and find it harder to focus on tasks.
• Have nightmares, or difficulty sleeping; change in appetite.
• Become irritable easily or emotionally reactive.
• Ask more questions or repeating the same questions in a worrying tone.
• Become more withdrawn and less active than before.
• Play or draw out the theme relevant to fear of death, infection, or other concerns surrounding COVID-19.
• Complain more about feeling not well, such as a headache, pain in the stomach.
• Showing disinterest in their favourite activities without transferring interest to new activities.
• Feel negative about the future.

What to Do and When to Seek Professional Help?

While some of the abovementioned presentations are normal when they are temporary, there is a need to seek professional help when these presentations interfere with children’s ability to function normally, such as when they experience significant drop in academic performance, inability to sleep at night, too much or too little food intake, significant mood change that causes tension in relationships with others, and feeling helpless and hopeless.

Having said that, if your child only shows some indications, but can continue to study, play, interact with others, eat and sleep, here are some tips on what you can do to help them cope with the psychological impacts at home.

Yong Xiang Yi
Clinical Psychologist

Master of Clinical Psychology
Malaysia
Bachelor of Psychology (Honours)
Malaysia

Xiang Yi completed her Master of Clinical Psychology degree from the National University of Malaysia. She subsequently underwent rigorous training under the psychiatry and psychology departments in major hospitals and clinics.

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Help Children Suffering from Anxiety during COVID-19

Listen to Their Concerns
Allocate time and space for children to express their concerns through words or play. Avoid immediate correction of inaccurate facts before they finish expressing their view. Assure them that it is alright to be worried as most people experience the same, and hence they are not alone. Hug or pat them on the shoulder if this helps them feel secure.

Reassure and Redirect
Reassure children that everyone is doing their best to ensure that they are safe and secure, including the government, teachers, doctors, nurses and adults in the family. Provide them with positive accurate news such as people recovering from COVID-19, and the subsequent slowdown of the contagion following appropriate preventive measures.

Empower Them with Accurate Information
If children are misinformed about the COVID-19, try to find out where they obtain this information from, and subsequently explain why these are inaccurate information sources. For children who do not attend formal schooling, parents can refer to the resources available on the MOH website.

Keep to a Regular Routine
Create a daily schedule that has well-balanced activities that revolve around learning, playing and relaxing, eating and sleeping. Try to follow the schedule accordingly and avoid change that is unnecessary. Inform children if changes to their routine is needed and let them know ahead of time.

Move It!
Exercise together with children at home - the exercise can range from impromptu dance moves with random music to more well-planned fitness workouts (refer to available online resources such as YouTube). Besides improving the body's immune system, exercise helps to regulate emotion, and strengthens one's bond with children if it is done together.

Take Good Care of Ourselves
It is important to take good care of ourselves despite being busy. It is also important for us to monitor our anxiety level as it influences how we interact with our children and the anxiety can pass on to them. Remember to have a work-life balance schedule, balanced diet, exercise, rest and emotional support from other family members and colleagues.