What Unexpected Gifts Did Quarantine Give Parents and Caregivers?
Even though it wasn’t by design and during a tremendously difficult period, how did slowing down, spending more time with family, and doing projects benefit us during quarantine?
We often take for granted how much emotional connection our children’s teachers foster with them on a daily basis, and many parents are finding themselves overwhelmed by trying to perform their own jobs from home and also provide a stimulating learning environment for their children while self-quarantining. Despite the disruption in daily schedule, spending more time together as a family learning and doing projects together can enhance everyone’s time at home right now. Caregiver and adult attention enhances the ways in which children’s brains develop and process information, increasing the capacity for attentional, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral success. Positive interactions with caring adults, whether they are teachers, parents, or caregivers, strengthens the biological stress-response systems, which reduces later risk for anxiety, depression, cardiovascular problems, and other chronic health issues in life. When children ultimately do return to school or daycare, they will have maintained the growth they achieved earlier in the year, setting themselves up later for greater executive functioning and attention regulation, higher IQ scores, and better reading skills. Even infants engage in something called “serve and return” interactions, where the reciprocal interactions that occur between children and their adult caregivers actually create new neural connections. Children learn to use their facial expressions and vocalizations before they know how to speak, learning from the adults who “return the serve” by responding with similar vocalizations and expressions, all of which shape the architecture of not just children’s brains, but adults’, as well. People who live in connected communities are demonstrably healthier than those who live in more isolation. Some studies link active social engagement in adults with better cardiovascular outcomes, greater immunity to infectious disease, increased thinking skills, and slowed cognitive decline.
If you’re wondering how to continue emphasizing these gains with your family even as things return to “normal,” reach out to a therapist today!
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