Dr. Jenny's COVID-19 Emergency Tool Kit For Families
COVID-19 has put you and those you care about into a situation you've never experienced before. Isolating our families to stay safe can prompt kids to act out and tempers to flare. We are just not used to confined quarters for long periods. The CMYK Kids program at CMYK Church teaches social and emotional skills to help kids and parents get through emotional upset and conflict. Our Kids Director has decades of experience with this and spends her workdays traveling across the US teaching these skills to parents and teachers. These skills will help you now and we want to share them with you.
Dr Jenny Barkac, Director of CMYK Kids, will be bringing tips to help you and your family during these challenging times.
Jenny is a certified instructor for Conscious Discipline and travels regularly across the USA assisting and teaching parents, administrators and teachers. Under Jenny’s leadership, CMYK Church uses the award winning Social Emotional Learning curriculum from Conscious Discipline for our CMYK Kids program.
A COVID-19 Social Story for Younger Kids
Calm your kid’s fears about the virus and talk through the Coronavirus with your kids with this printable story book from Mindheart.com. Caring for them emotionally is as important as physical safety.
Coronavirus Comic for Older Kids
Humor can help us calm down in stressful situations. Download NPR’s COVID-19 comic for your older kids.
Visual Schedules
Change is scary for kids. Structure and routines calm their brains and help them feel safe. Bring this structure and a felt sense of safety by creating a daily schedule using pictures. These are called ‘visual schedules’. There are lots of examples on the web. Anders shares his visual schedule with Miss Jenny in this video. Open the link for details from Dr Jenny on creating a visual schedule
Stay Calm and Breathe
You can’t help your child if you’re having your own personal meltdown. Whether your child is having a full-scale temper tantrum or has just hollered ‘Mom!’ for the 37th time, you need to calm yourself first before responding. This link can help you reframe your perspective of your child’s behavior and calm down before trying to help them.
Build Cooperation and Willingness
Build a desire for cooperation and willingness into your relationship with your kids with frequent moments of meaningful connection.