During the epidemic, many parents wanted to take their children to the community for a stroll. However, some parents were baffled by the problem of their children wearing masks. These parents tried their best to make their children wear masks. What should they do?
In order to solve this problem, NetEase Health and the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association specially consulted two child psychologists: Gao Hongyun, chief physician of the Department of Psychology of the Affiliated Pediatric Hospital of Fudan University, and Chen Yixin, chief physician of the Children's Mental Health Research Center of Nanjing Brain Hospital. They are also members of the Psychosomatic Medicine and Clinical Psychology Special Committee of the Chinese Women Physicians Association and registered supervisors of the Chinese Psychological Society. Listen to what they say.
Gao Hongyun: First of all, we should emphasize not to go out. Because the source of infection is not very sure now, it is hard to say that someone on the road must not have carried the virus.
Second, parents need to know that they do not need to wear masks in private cars or in open spaces where there is no one to go. So go out and let the children stay in such an environment as far as possible, which can reduce the time for children to wear masks.
Third, if children do not wear masks, parents should not immediately criticize them, let alone force them. Because parents force their children to wear masks, it may cause them to cry. After crying, the masks will become wet, which is meaningless. Without compulsion and criticism, if parents want their children to wear masks as required, they need to analyze the reasons why children do not wear masks.
What are the reasons why children don't wear masks?
First, children feel strange to masks, so they are afraid. We can take such countermeasures as sticking cartoon stickers on masks to make them fun for children. Parents can even decorate masks with their children. In fact, most children's masks have some cartoons. Then not only can children's masks be labeled, but adults' masks can also be the same as children's masks. For example, children's masks are labeled with bananas, fathers are labeled with apples, and mothers are labeled with oranges. In this way, masks become meaningful labels, representing fathers and mothers of oranges, and children are banana babies, so children are more willing to wear masks.
The second reason why children do not want to wear masks is that masks can cause earache. To deal with this situation, we can not buckle the mask rope to the ear when wearing the mask for children, but add another rope to tie it behind the head, so that the earache problem can be solved.
The third reason is that wearing masks makes children feel stuffy and uncomfortable. Most of the reasons for this are that children are nervous. When they just wear masks, they breathe quickly. The more quickly they breathe, the more stuffy they will feel. In this case, parents can tell their children that it doesn't matter. The mask will not be stuffy after a while, because you are not used to it. In addition, give him some rewards. Tell the child that if you can wear them consistently, you will be healthy. Dad can give you rewards when he goes back. Sometimes children will endure for reward. After that, parents can also show the child a video and tell a story to divert his attention. In the process of watching videos, telling stories and listening to stories, the child's breathing slowly calms down, so he won't feel bored.
Finally, if all the methods are used up and the child really refuses to wear a mask, what should he do? In this case, we can consider masks and helmets. Although helmets and masks are certainly not as good as masks, they will still have some effect on preventing droplets.
Chen Yixin. In addition, it should be noted that the time spent outside should be as short as possible. Of course, it's best not to go out. If you need ventilation, you can take a few minutes or go out for a half hour in a week or two, or in a shorter period.
