As Melbourne switched back into lockdown, Junior School psychologist, Mrs Sharon Turner, spoke to ABC Drive host, Rafael Epstein about tips to assist parents in making remote learning a smooth process for all. Click the cloud to listen.
ABC Drive
31 May 2021
1.Routines
Routines give children a sense of safety and security. As much as possible try and have the remote learning day scheduled like a school day. Get up at the same time (as this assists with ensuring the sleep-wake cycle are not altered during remote learning), have recess and lunch breaks at the scheduled school times and support your children to maintain social connections with friends through phone calls and monitored online communications.
2. Rest
Lockdowns can be stressful for everyone in a household so maintaining good sleep routines assists all members of the household to cope better. Being well-rested ensures a greater likelihood that everyone will be able to manage their emotions when feeling stressed or overwhelmed.
3. Reinforce
It is important to role model good coping skills. Reinforce to your children that “we’ve got this” and “we’ve done it before and can do it again.” Convey the message that we will be back at school but at the moment we are doing some remote learning.
4. Realistic
Be realistic about what you can and can’t do to assist your child with remote learning, especially when you are also working from home and might have a number of students to be supported with remote learning. No one expects parents to become teachers. If there are problems with getting work done, don’t stress. Be kind to yourself. Work alongside teachers with emails to let them know of difficulties and remember you are working as a team!
