Corona has now affected us all for a whole year. Numerous lockdowns have forced us to isolate either alone or with only the immediate family. We got to spend more time with our kids, which in these uncertain times indeed also has given us something positive, nurturing our family bond.
Nevertheless the human being is a social creature, mirroring ourselves through relationships with others. To enter into healthy close relationships is a gift never to be talken for granted. They must be valued and nurtured, because they make us, who we are.
In the first years of life the bond to the parents and siblings is sufficient, but as the child grow, social relationships to other adults and children will play an important role in the development of the child’s self-perception.
Our current deprivation of social relationships can cause great psychological distress, anxiety and identity crisis.
Adults can much easier express themselves, when it comes to missing our work relationships, leisure activity relations and friends. Our children can have exactly the same frustrations, but without being able to clearly identify and express the core of the deprivation they suffer. Instead, this can sometimes manifest through physical symptoms as headaches and abdominal pain, or the child may show direct sadness.
It is important, we articulate this problem with our children. Showing them, what they feel is genuine, and they do not have to carry around these feeling by themselves.
How can we go about this the best.
Sometimes it can be hard to find a good way to open up.
Creative play is a wonderful way to reach out to your child. Organic modeling clay can help both you and your child to ease into a difficult conversation.
The play does not have to have anything to do with the difficult subject of conversation, but can be a safe companion.
Depending on the age of the child, organic modeling clay can also be used as a tool in the conversation, maybe molding inner emotions, or simply molding figures of the friends and family they miss the most.
Creating sweet gifts for missed friends, baking our organic modeling clay in the oven at 60 degrees and sprayed with varnish after baking, is also a way to help your child to cope with the challenges the worldwide pandemic has caused, depriving us many of our social relations.
Every choice matters. The mental health of our children is the cornerstone of our common future.