#MondayMotivation

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Maya Angelou

In times of crisis and fear, it is easy to forget that children are emotional sponges. Whatever we feel, they feel. When we’re happy, they’re ecstatic. When we’re sad, they’re inconsolable. When we’re worried, they’re anxious and afraid. Children don’t have the understanding yet to understand and appropriately process the current situation, especially when their emotions are heightened by the fear of their carers.

So please, do whatever you can to make this a positive experience for them even through the fear. Turn days of quarantine into indoor scavenger hunts. Turn lockdown into adventures in the garden or visiting new worlds in books and films. Turn school closures into opportunities for real-life learning like balancing a budget, or writing a letter to an elderly neighbour or relative. Try your hardest to be a positive force in your child’s life at this challenging time, and in the future they will remember the time you spent together, not the fear of the situation you were in.