Parents, kids get tips from Kejriwal, experts in live session

Creating awareness about the Covid-19 pandemic among children, engaging them in activities and sensitising them about their responsibilities towards the society

Creating awareness about the Covid-19 pandemic among children, engaging them in activities and sensitising them about their responsibilities towards the society were among the suggestions made by the Delhi government to parents during a session — ‘parenting in the time of corona’ — held Saturday.

HT Image

The live session, organised to help children and their parents cope with the ongoing lockdown, was chaired by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

“It’s a challenging time for us all. But, we will have to turn this crisis into an opportunity in every possible way. Parents should try to take it as an opportunity to spend as much time as possible with their children. They should engage them in different activities to understand them better. They should educate their children about the prevailing situation,” he said.

Kejriwal was joined by education minister Manish Sisodia, director of the directorate of education (DoE), Binay Bhushan, and experts, including educationist Seemant Dhadwal, as panellists.

Parents and children were asked to send their questions via SMS, on WhatsApp groups to their school teachers or on Twitter accompanied by #parentinginlockdown.

A senior government official said that they shortlisted the most-asked questions for the session.

Responding to a question, asked by many parents, about tricks to convince their kids, as young as four to five years, to stay home, Kejriwal said, “Parents will have to make their children understand the nature of the coronavirus. They will have to tell them how it transmits from one person to another. It’s important that the children know that one person can transmit this virus to others, just by a touch or sneeze. This is how they can help their kids understand that they can also catch the infection if they go out and there is a need for complete social distancing in this prevailing situation,” he said.

Many parents asked experts how to protect their children from the prevailing “sense of negativity” due to the pandemic. Educationist and chief executive officer of Meraki Foundation, Dhadwal, asked parents to ensure that their children take a break from social media every day. “All social networking sites are full of Covid-19 news items. It’s important that the kids do not read only about that throughout the day. Parents should engage their children in activities of their choice. They should regularly ask children how they feel about the lockdown. They should listen to their apprehensions and queries regularly, to avoid any long-lasting impression on their young minds. It’s important to create a positive environment at home,” he said.

The panel suggested parents plan a daily routine with their children and participate in their activities. “Generally, both parents and children complain that they do not get enough time to spend with each other. This is the best opportunity for them to spend quality time at home and understand each other well,” Kejriwal said.

Kejriwal also suggested parents to set an example for their children by helping those in need, including homeless people, daily wagers and domestic helps.

Among other queries raised by the children were if their summer vacations would get compromised due to the lockdown, how to avoid boredom at home and ways to continue learning at home. Besides, students of classes 9 and 11 also asked about their pending exams. “We have already announced that we will evaluate students of these classes based on the exams we took before the lockdown and their internal assessments. None will be asked to write exams again,” Bushan said.

Meanwhile, some parents also asked the government why private schools are charging a fee during the lockdown. Kejriwal said that he had also received messages from parents, saying that it’s difficult for them to pay the school fee during the lockdown.

Sisodia said, “Parents need to understand that private schools pay the salaries of their staff from that fee only. We understand the challenges of parents as well, but they also have to think about those who won’t be get paid if the schools do not receive the fee. If parents have any suggestions regarding this issue, they can share it with us.”