With encouragement, kids can learn important life lessons from this Covid-19 pandemic.

Most of us are just trying to get by during the Covid-19 pandemic to worry about what lessons our kids can learn from this challenging time. What with scrounging for groceries, making home office work, and keeping kids entertained while managing melt-downs (ours and theirs), staying sane is top of the list.

And struggling with home learning is mostly at the bottom.

But life, with its unexpected ups and downs, is a demanding, and effective teacher. Kids learn through doing and experiencing, and some of life’s most important lessons cannot be taught with the same impact in a classroom. In other words, it’s worth embracing this difficult time to encourage the child in your life to learn the key lessons that will stay with them while they grow.

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The three lessons the Covid-19 pandemic can teach kids:

Lesson 1: Empathy and Community

Children are naturally self-centered, particularly because they strive to understand who they are and who they want to become. But this self-focus also often makes them less empathetic. An almost constant connection with the digital worlds has only worsened this lack of empathy. Why? Because hidden behind a screen, kids find it easy to focus only on themselves.

The advent of social distancing has a key purpose; protecting others. The primary purpose of social-distancing and self-isolation is to protect the community from infection, especially from children and young people who show no symptoms and may not realize they are carriers. While there is an element of self-protection, the primary sacrifice of isolation for young people is to protect people they may not even know.

This matters. And it matters that kids learn to appreciate the importance of their role in serving their community. And, with this appreciation comes the side benefit of making home isolation just a little bit easier- for kids as well as parents.

Encourage and Emphasize:

Why we do home isolation as a community.

How home isolation works to help others and ourselves.

The ways that community benefits become personal benefits.

Here are some questions to begin building the community mindset.

Lesson 2: Resilience

It turns out that one of the most essential skills a kid needs for well-being and happiness is also one of the hardest to teach; resilience. Being able to find healthy ways to handle life’s unexpected highs and lows is directly linked to a positive, happy mindset.

For most children, handling change, either good or bad, is not something that comes naturally, so it’s a skill they have to learn. The abrupt change in daily life that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought on is challenging for anyone, but it is also a perfect setting for children to absorb the lessons of adapting to unforeseen events. And, to prepare them for the challenges of the future.

Encourage and Emphasize:

Independent problem solving, especially when your child feels frustrated or overwhelmed by their current situation. Practicing problem-solving skills helps build confidence in the face of adversity.

One-on-one time with the people around them. This might include family at home or video chat with friends to help build strong and positive emotional connections.

Emotion talk and healthy risk-taking – this means getting kids, including teens, to talk about how they feel. It also means encouraging them to think outside the box to take on tasks or solutions they may find difficult. Failing and learning from failure is the act of resilience.

Here are some strategies to build resilience in children.

Lesson 3: Patience

There’s a reason why patience is called a virtue – it’s something most of us have to work on.

Patience is the ability and willingness to suppress annoyance, frustration, or anger when faced with a delay. Most adults can confidently say that patience is not a natural trait of children or teenagers. And now, with children around the globe forced to delay living their lives as they usually would, patience is in short supply.

As a teacher, and mind you this is anecdotal, I’ve noticed a direct correlation between the increased use of electronic devices (providing a constant source of immediate gratification) and the decrease of patience in my middle school students. Each generation seems less willing to wait for just about anything. In fact, impatience – and the anger that comes with it- can become a repetitive and addictive behavior.

Part of learning patience is accepting those things outside of your control – like the Covid-19 pandemic. But, we can control how we act or react to these events. Accepting to put our lives partially on hold helps. And, so does accepting that we might have to wait, and wait, and wait. Delaying, waiting, postponing – and learning how to do so willingly, is the act of practicing patience.

Encourage and Emphasize:

Paying attention to feelings of discomfort to waiting like irritation and anger. Identifying the what and the why of those feelings is the first step to releasing discomfort.

Practicing patience in small things – like waiting for a game or favorite show – translates to building patience in larger things.

Finding solutions to the discomfort of waiting (plus, it helps reinforce problem-solving skills) when there is no other choice. Solutions can fall under; learning a new skill, reading, or re-discovering an abandoned hobby. A willingness to see a wait or delay as a hidden opportunity makes it much easier to accept.

Here are some tips for building patience

How listening for lessons from Covid-19 matters for kids and adults

There are many other lessons, but these three lessons are the cornerstones to what kids can learn from this Covid-19 pandemic. Surreal and crazy as it seems, the pandemic holds important messages if we listen. So, as we wait with bated breath for our schools to open, for places of business to throw wide their doors, to go on trips or parties without fear, let’s take the time to listen. Because, listening carefully and embracing these lessons from the pandemic is a tiny step in making an easier – and happier – future for your children.