Due to the extended period of lockdown resulted from the outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic, schools have moved to interact and collaborate in remote learning.

In fact, many of the schools already had shut down before the announcement of nationwide lockdown to protect the most vulnerable- kids from getting infected by this deadly virus.

As a parent, you have the responsibility to help your children succeed at school and encourage them to do better. But, since this is a new concept for everyone, you might come through some hurdles in the path of involving in your children’s distance education.

As the world is fighting against Covid-19 outbreak it is normal to feel sad, worried, and anxious. The inability to go out in the school, playground and meet school friends make kids more stressed and depressed.

A parent is the most important teacher for a child. On that account, you have to support the children with this new way of doing school while managing with anxiety and fear.

Here are 9 parenting tips to keep kids engaged and interested in distance learning.

1. Give Time to Adjust

Remote learning did exist for a long time but nobody has made full use of it until now.

The shift to distance learning can be difficult. Remember that these school days are different. As you are taking time to adapt with the daily routine, your kids need that too in terms of online education and another everyday task.

Keeping that in mind, parents, as well as the educators, are requested to start it slowly and allow them some time to adjust.

2. Establish a Daily Routine

As a parent, it is the most important thing to take care of for helping your children in an online learning format.

Although, your child can’t physically go to school but treating the online format as your child used to do while attending school is the right approach for getting a hand on this new format of learning.

Establish a routine for your kid like waking up, taking a bath, having a healthy breakfast, attending online sessions, homework, and the list goes on. Let them stick to it daily to avoid any trouble.

3. Build Healthy Eating Habit

It is a golden opportunity to encourage kids to eat healthily. Let them know the importance of eating healthy especially during this uncertain time.

Don’t scare or force them to eat. Act patiently and slowly introduce them towards eating good food so that they can easily fight off any infections.

Impart this information in creative and fun ways which are easier for them to understand. Make sure to add green veggies and seasonal fruits in their healthy diet.

Give them healthy snacking option like fruits, chemical-free juices, nuts, plain yogurt, dry fruits, fresh smoothies etc to curb their little hunger healthily.

4. Get Kids to Exercise

Sitting in from of the computer can be stressful and tiring. It can also cause pain in the back or neck considering your child is not used to this routine.

To allay any discomfort, take advantage of the breaks in between and encourage your children to try a less vigorous exercise like stretching, walk, jumping jacks, rope skipping or any of their favourite indoor activity.

It is highly recommended for your child’s healthy development of body and mind. You should also join them in doing so. It’s a fun activity and healthy of course.

5. Respect their Privacy

While you may be curious to know what’s happening in their online session but, kindly refrain from popping in while the session is going on.

It is important to set your limits. If you want to know your child’s academic report then get in touch with their teacher through other means like a mail, WhatsApp message or call.

Let the educators solely handle your child, provide a safe space for them to express their feelings for making online learning a norm.

6. Talk to Other Parents

Offer and seek various tips to overcome any difficult situation like the one that we are facing right now.

Get in touch with the other parents and find out the tips that they are using to cope with their children and helping out in remote education. You can make video-conferencing or use the phone to communicate with them.

This is a great idea to develop relationships with them and also get some ideas that you can use to smooth the distancing learning process for your child.

7. Keep in Touch With School Staff

No matter if you have any concern or not, you should talk to your child’s teacher and other concerned school staff members to know about their performance.

It can be possible that your child is facing some trouble in learning and not able to focus and concentrate via remote learning. Acknowledge the importance of having a one on one session with their teachers to ensure your kids do fine at studies.

This can further help in developing relationships with the teacher and they will hesitate in contacting you in case of any problem related to the child.

8. Know Their Emotions

As discussed before, there are many reasons to be upset and stressed about because of the Novel Coronavirus.

In such an emotionally challenging situation, parents are advised to keep on checking on their child to know if they are doing fine mentally.

Let them express their emotions and know when they are feeling low. It’s important to act early before anything takes a toll on your child’s mental health.

9. Look After For Yourself

After all the important tips to help kids in distancing learning, the most important is to take care of your well-being.

You can’t help the children if you are not keeping fit physically and mentally on your own. Eat healthy food, exercise regularly, and spend some time to improve your overall health to better cope with these hard times.

Stay optimistic and pass this message onto your little ones to effectively handle any hurdle of life.

Final Thoughts

School communities and parents should remain in touch to help out each other and ease remote learning for the students.

Discuss pandemic with the children to keep them updated and away from any misinformation that can arouse terror because of Coronavirus pandemic.