Just as it’s important for adults to stay connected with others during lockdown, it is for our kids too. And, let’s face it, they know far more about how to do this with technology than we ever will!

While they may not need too much help with logging in and finding the right platform, they will need adults to help them keep safe, be happy and successfully manage their emotions online.

Knowing Who Can Support Them

• At the moment, it’s going to be down to parents to provide the physical hugs and cuddles that children need. But you don’t have to provide all of the other emotional support too. To help everyone’s wellbeing, it’s important to share the load. Most teachers are at the end of an email or phone right now, as well as other family members and friends.
• In the DO! section of this module, there’s a helpful sheet to get children thinking about who they’d normally go to for help – their Happiness Heroes. Depending on the type of advice they’d like, it might be a good idea for them to message the other person first, so that they can mull over what they’re going to say.

Keeping Them Safe

• The vast majority of schools use SMART online safety rules. These are plastered all over walls and revisited at the beginning of each school year. Why not print off a copy and chat through them with your child?
• If you’re working from home, it might be tempting to let the kids play on their devices in their bedrooms. Remember, they’re much safer online in a communal space.
• There is some great advice out there for how to keep your children safe online, particularly from the BBC and the NSPCC. At Laughology, we know that it’s all about chatting. Now’s the perfect time to ask your children about the games they’re playing and who they’re speaking to – best to do this in a chatty, interested way, rather than coming over as the online police!

Making Online Chatting Fun

• We don’t know about you but, as adults, all we seem to be talking about is COVID-19, what we’ve eaten and how much Joe Wicks is killing us! It’s a good idea to give children some ideas of what they could chat about too. Ed’s Thunk in the DO! section is a great way to kick off a conversation. 
• Organise some active body and brain games. Charades is an oldie but a goodie. It gets folks moving – and it’s even funnier across the airwaves. For our brains, we love asking people to draw a household object on a post-it and then work with a partner or as a 3, to design a brand-new, useful invention. It’s trickier than you think!
• We know that laughter and humour help us to cope. So, why not set up some silly challenges. For example, ask them to wear the poshest outfit they can think of, to do a dull household job and either share a photo or film of themselves. Then everyone can have a giggle watching the bride and groom clean the loo. 

Remember! At the moment, it’s most important that everyone comes through this well and happy. Yes, children are spending more time online but, if you follow some of ours and others’ tips, that’s not to fret about now. However, when Coronavirus is over, you might want to wean them off by looking at our Pattern Breaking Module.

Next week, we look at how we can create the right home learning environment, so that everyone gets a bit of something done every day and the whole family still like each other at the end of the week!

In the meantime, if you'd like more ideas, why not download one of our Coping Skills lesson plans.