Coronavirus Emergency: Ten steps for talking to kids
A guide to support parents developed by Paoletti Foundation in collaboration with the Civil Protection Department
Dealing with anxiety and fears while learning to deal with them is a challenge for everyone, which appears particularly challenging and difficult for children and teenagers. Especially today, that for the first time, they have to deal with the widespread sense of uncertainty generated by the Coronavirus emergency.
Every citizen has the responsibility to contribute to the management of the emergency. In fact, at the moment, it is of fundamental importance to stay at home and to follow the instructions of the Institutions in order to safeguard personal and collective wellbeing.
It is equally important to deal properly with the emergency at the emotional level, strengthening the tools which may contribute to maintaining the balance in a situation such as the current one.
In this context, parents of children and teenagers are responsible for both controlling their fears while remaining a reliable benchmark for their children.
To support families, the Patrizio Paoletti Foundation, in collaboration with the Civil Protection Department, developed a multilingual vademecum with a series of video lectures to help parents manage the emergency with their children appropriately.
The ten-step guide developed by a team of psychologists, pedagogues and neuroscientists is designed for parents and educators, providing useful support for anyone who wants to strengthen self-control and learn how to manage uncertainty in this time of crisis.
The vademecum is sponsored by the Italian Parents' Association and has received the appreciation of the Minister for Equal Opportunities and the Family, Elena Bonetti. The vademecum was produced in the context of "Envisioning the future: methods and techniques to potentiate hope and planning ability": a national project through which the Paoletti Foundation offers free support to populations affected by emergencies