Children: An Example Of Adaptation During This Quarantine

Children have the ability to adapt much more than adults have. It is clear that this confinement will have negative effects on them, but also positive ones due to their ability to adapt.

The effects that confinement can have on our children is something that worries all parents. And it is clear that this quarantine will have both positive and negative effects on them. But we must not forget that children are an example of adaptation during this quarantine.

Another thing that we have to be clear about is that the effects that this confinement has on children will depend on many circumstances, but even so, they are survivors.

Children: an example of adaptation

María Montessori said that young children have a capacity for adaptation that no adult has. And this is the reality: since they are born, they adapt to circumstances, to new learning, to new challenges … They are an example of survival.

Questions to consider about confinement in children

 Circumstances of confinement

It is clear that the adaptation of children to this situation will depend, to a large extent, on the circumstances in which they occur and are passing this quarantine. For example:

• Living in a house with a garden, patio or terrace is not the same as living in a small apartment. For children, it is easier to adapt in a large house that gives them a lot of room to play and release their energy than in a flat where space is much smaller.
  
• Nor is living with a person with physical or mental health problems the same as living in a family in which all its members are healthy. If the child lives with a depressed or anxious limb, the adverse effects will be greater and adaptation to this situation will be more difficult.

• It is not the same to spend the quarantine with parents who do not stop arguing, shouting and getting angry, than a family where an atmosphere of patience and listening is breathed among its members.
• Nor is it the same as in a house where there are money problems and difficulty making ends meet, because parents cannot work due to this situation that we are going through and that they transmit their anxiety and worry constantly, than in one in which those who take it positively, despite the difficulties.

Thus, we could continue to list a lot of situations on which children are going to depend on being an example of adaptation.

Children: an example of adaptation and survival

Children are capable of adapting much better than adults and, despite the circumstances and the possible effects, there will always be positives and negatives. It is clear that we are going through an exceptional and unnatural situation, but has anyone stopped to think that children have been facing unnatural circumstances for a long time since they were 3 years old?

• They have faced the fact of getting up early and having breakfast in 5 minutes to get to school on time.
• Homework and extracurricular activities that make them finish very late every day.
• Many children can barely see their parents, who are late from work and tired

So if they’ve been able to adapt to all of this, they should be able to adapt to this confinement. And surely in some aspects this quarantine will bring positive effects on them, such as spending more time with their parents, among others.

Teach children housework

There are many things that children do not learn at school and it is at home that parents must teach them. Now that we are all together, we can take advantage of and practice new simple tasks of daily life for children to learn. Always taking into account their age and adapting the tasks to this, of course. For example:

• Teach them to cook, make a pizza, sew a button, make a cake, a sponge cake, some cookies …
• Personal hygiene : the habit of washing their hands frequently, depending on their age, teaching them to cut their nails …
• Cleaning : we can teach them to put a bottom sheet, to help us make the bed, to take a cloth and help us clean, etc.
• Caring for plants and animals : if we have plants, let them help us water them. And, if we have pets, make sure they don’t lack food and water, etc.

Whether children are an example of adaptation will depend on these factors, which are much more conclusive than confinement itself. If children see their parents calm and well, they will too. A child with a simple glance towards his parents can tell how things are.

For this situation no one was prepared, no one has a book that tells us what to do. But what we do have to be clear about is that patience, good humor, kindness, generosity and love will bring us victorious out of this stage. That this situation does not cause families to break up, but rather that they come out much stronger and united. Everything will be fine!