My son just started going to his playschool, and lockdown happened. Now being a mother of one, I can’t tell him to play with his brothers and sisters indoors. His typical outlets for in-person social interaction — entire day playing with toddlers, training, fun — are on hold for an undecided period of time.
It is assumed that a single child and his parents have a tough time being quarantined for long stretches than children with siblings. The reality is that Covid-19 has created a new family landscape for every family. The challenges aren’t the same, but they do exist.
If you are parents to the only, then the advantage is that you are not settling disputes. You are also not relieving escalating tensions, or monitoring pleas for individual and undivided parental care. When a kid gets bored, parents are called on no matter how many siblings the kid has to play games and fill in the gaps.
Realization of Minimalism- Teaching Same to the Only
During the current crisis, what you can do is shop for your gatekeepers, housekeeping staff, and elderly neighbors. And when you leave the grocery store at their doors, you can have your child come with you. Many parents out there are going through tough times. Make your child realize it, and often, talk about helping the needy and donate if you can. Ask your only child to call the uncle, aunt, cousins, and grandparents. Or someone in the family who may struggle to see how they do every couple of days. Come up with gestures of caring that will remain in place long after the pandemic.
How Successful Parents Make the Most of Their Social Distancing with the Only
Social distancing can be straight seclusion for children only. Some parents worry that their companionship will actually not be enough to fill up the distance. According to research published in Infant and Child Development, as with most aspects of child development, having siblings is just one factor in a child’s social and emotional development.
There are lots of things that children can do online to remain involved and engaged. The toddlers love coloring and block games. So, engaging with the only child as a parent can improve your drawing skill, too. Also, art therapy could be a savior in quarantine times. For teenagers, there are online outlets for board games, video chats, yoga, and scavenger hunts. They can also avail virtual discovery in museums, and learning opportunities for kids. Also, by taking an online course together, parents can have a collaborative environment with their kids.
Stop Feeling Guilty and Start being Proactive with the Child
Parents should stop worrying or feel guilty that their child would be more content if a sibling existed. More so that the social distancing could cause my only child to get deeper into itself. And in turn, perhaps even trigger long-term anxiety or depression. Without constant parental input, most of the only children are good at filling in the extra time. If the child is not the best independent and needs more involvement, remember that the need for attention probably has more to do with your child’s nature than with their sibling-less status.
According to Forbes and Scientific American, for decades, scientists have argued over the advantages and disadvantages that singletons face compared to children with siblings. Some of these include being generally more creative but less agreeable.
How Do I Help
So far, I believe my son’s anxiety, moodiness, and regressions are an absolutely normal response to an exceptional time. I need only keep an eye on his and my own mental health.
It is questionable how much influence the effect of being an only child has. It can depend on how many other opportunities a single child has to regularly develop his or her social and cognitive abilities. Otherwise, it would seem more important to create a loving and calm environment in the house with two or more children.
After all, there is no way that only children are cut off from social settings — contacts in kindergarten, for example, provide a varied interpersonal training ground. Parents are likely to work harder to teach social skills and engineering opportunities to their only children, where children would have to share their toys, books, and parental care.
What Does Studies Say
According to conventional wisdom, only children are antisocial, anti-sharing, and not very good at playing well with others. But at the same time, they may be a bit savvier than those with siblings. A study published in Brain Imaging and Behavior suggests those conventions are true to some degree. Only children did not score in the personality trait known as “agreeableness” and participants with siblings. Still, they did better in flexibility, which is thought to be a marker of creativity.
Although it is difficult to correlate personality with neurology, the study suggests that we are really affected by the environment in which we grow up, and perhaps right down to our brain cells.
Psychology Principles You Should Use to Strengthen Your Close Bond with Your Only
Even if your kids aren’t the best of buds, when the parents get stressed out or one parent loses it, they have each other. But as an only one, you have no one to share that experience with.
We are an anxious society. And this pandemic created genuine fears for many adults about their own physical and financial health and that of their family and friends.
As parents, we need to be in tune with any major changes in our child’s behavior that may indicate that they are becoming anxious. If they are crying more than usual, being withdrawn, sleeping more or less, irritability and moodiness, anger, outbursts, etc. These all may be signs of anxiety.
Just being vigilant and offering a comforting ear and company will help your child feel loved. Hope you found this article useful and informative. Leave your thoughts in the comments! We love reading them.
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