For all members of the family: Look after your Well-Being

During this time of uncertainty, we understand how many of us may be feeling a great deal of unrest and worry. Even just being out of our normal routine and away from friends can leave us feeling insecure. To help us through this, there are many things we can do to help:

• Follow the clear guidance offered by the government (emailed out to all parents)
• Create a new routine – make a timetable of daily activities for yourself.
• Make sure you stay healthy – drink plenty of water, eat healthily and make sure you exercise (at least one hour per day).
• Keep in contact with friends and family – use DB Primary or any other social media platform (agreed by your parents)
• Practice daily mindfulness and/or yoga.

Mindfulness and Yoga resources

• Breathing breaks - see the document below for ideas.
• Check out this gorgeous link to mindful music (a 10-week free trial) – play it while you are working, resting, practising yoga or...whenever you fancy! https://www.artswave.org/discover/responding-to-covid-19
• Headspace is offering a free selection of their online app to practice mindfulness. It’s called ‘Weathering the Storm’. The benefit of practising mindfulness for 5+ minutes a day is unquestionable. https://www.headspace.com/covid-19
• Yoga – the online Cosmic Kids app is offering a 2-week free trial. It’s fantastic! https://www.cosmickids.com/  You may feel confident enough to carry on independently after your 2-week trial; if not, there are plenty of other ways to continue your yoga practice: there are many cosmic kids, as well as other, yoga clips for children on you tube.
• Also remember the peer massage  that most of you are trained in. The prompt sheet and video is attached for guidance.

Other mindful activities include:

• Knitting and sewing
• Mindful games - see the document below for ideas
• Gardening
• Cooking
• Enjoy the outdoors – notice the details of nature (use all your senses) - see the document below.
• Mindful colouring and drawing (plenty of ideas and resources online, eg: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/719309371710746171/; ). Try out zentangle (mindful drawing)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBwHUKHUdD8
• Mindful craft e.g. make a: loom band sensory jar, a mandala, a hand held windmill, a fortune teller, paint a stone… There are plenty of ideas online, eg stunning ideas on ‘pinterest’ (free to sign up) https://www.pinterest.co.uk/amyfratto/mindful-crafting/more_ideas/?ideas_referrer=18
• Wilderness Foundation: This site has some wonderful ideas for activities that can be done outside or indoors to support mindfulness, reflection and physical activity. https://wildernessfoundation.org.uk/wildtime/

For Parents: Concerns about Mental Health

If you are experiencing more unmanageable feelings of anxiety and worry, the ‘Child Mind Institute’ are offering a wide selection of online support. https://childmind.org/  Their digital response to COVID-19 includes:

Twice daily Facebook Live videochats featuring our expert clinicians

Flat-fee phone consultations for problem behavior

Comprehensive coronavirus resources for parents on childmind.org

Daily parent tips on childmind.org, Facebook and Instagram at 8am

On-air experts for media appearances
 

HEADSPACE: This is an app we have mentioned before (for mindful meditation and breathing via their ‘Weathering the Storm’ collection), but Headspace has also launched resources to help guide parents on having conversations with children around stress and anxiety, and helping us all to be kind to ourselves in this current climate (https://assets.ctfassets.net/v3n26e09qg2r/56agU3mnWS8ycNsLnvpT1x/23ee0f0019171ab0953342b84522f656/hs_for_educators-and-parents_COVID-19_final.pdf.)