Advice for parents on the pandemic’s impact on children
PARENTS with toddlers were given advice on how to lessen the impact of the global pandemic on their child’s development at a special event on Saturday.
Hosted by Health & Social Care, and held at St Martin’s Primary School, Positive Parenting Post-Pandemic was aimed at parents of two- to four-year-olds.
Agencies available to give advice included speech and language therapy, dental care, physiotherapy, children’s centres, health care and early years team start.
Paediatric speech and language therapist Claire Thomas said the day was about information sharing, offering reassurance and strategies and providing specific workshops.
It was free, having been sponsored by the Smile for Georgie Foundation.
Some 50 tickets had been taken up, while others just turned up on the day.
‘We know for example that our speech and language therapy colleagues in the UK have had a double intake of referrals since the pandemic,’ she said. ‘We’ve seen an increase ourselves, though not that many, and the UK was in lockdown longer than us.’
Another consequence has arisen from mask wearing – more than 50% of messaging is non-verbal.
‘Facial expression, the tone of voice, and body language were all missing,’ said Mrs Thomas.
The pandemic had also deprived youngsters of social opportunities, such as pre-school and toddler groups.
The day was about providing general strategies to help a child’s development.
‘Some people who have been here today are wanting to know if their child or children are meeting their milestones,’ said Mrs Thomas.
Positive parenting in this day and age required flexibility, creativity, dedication and persistence, which is no easy task.
This was an opportunity for people to chat with a range of professionals in one place and to learn about evidence-based strategies that could support a child’s development at what is a crucial stage of their life.
‘I didn’t want to trouble experts when they were all so busy’
ONE girl had her first birthday on the day that Guernsey went into lockdown for the first time.
Hallie Guilbert is now three-and-a-half.
Her mother, Rosie, who works in insurance, saw details of Saturday’s event shared on social media and thought it would be of benefit to attend.
‘Hallie has lived most of her life through the pandemic,’ she said.
‘Social interaction was something lacking at the time.
‘You felt you couldn’t contact an expert as they were all so busy and it was a case of waiting for the moment when you felt comfortable contacting somebody for something less urgent,’ said Mrs Guilbert.
