helpful ideas to support our little ones

Practical ideas for connecting

This should be considered in conjunction with the Factsheet: Supporting children and young people and their parents and carers regarding COVID-19. Also, please remember when making changes to family contact arrangements, please ensure written advice is provided to the family. A letter has been drafted for use when advising parents of a change to their contact arrangements.

Connecting using telephone/skype/etc

There are a lot of different ideas depending on the age of the child/ren:

  • Singing songs together e.g. nursery rhymes and Wiggles songs
  • Parent reading a story to child and if skyping show the illustrations along the way
  • Telling jokes to each other
  • Sharing family photos and telling stories about the person or event
  • Sharing memories – share your favourite memory about being together
  • Doing exercises or school work together
  • Parents sharing about their favourite activities that they did as a child and children sharing about their favourite activity now.
  • Children creating a special painting or drawing and sharing via skype and then sending on via post
  • With Easter coming up, perhaps both could share their favourite Easter memories.
  • Perhaps there could be a series of questions that both parent and child answers to each other.  Again the type of question depends on the age and development of the child
    • What is your favourite food?
    • Share a recipe.
    • If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you like to go and why?
    • What job do you want to do when you grow up and why?
    • If you could travel anywhere in Australia where would you like to go and why?
    • What famous person would you like to meet and why?

Using the internet/apps/online games/etc

There are a number of apps, games and sites that allow for interaction between participants. There are plenty of online safety resources available on the Queensland Family & Child Commission site as well as other government sites. While there may be risks online, risk doesn’t always equal harm so some strategies and tips include:

  • Educate yourself and others about internet use
  • Manage settings and parental controls
  • Keep calm and have open conversations.

Again, there are many different options depending on the age of the child/ren. Some suggestions include:

Now is the time to be innovative and creative!!

Being socially distant doesn’t mean social isolation or disconnection – it’s more important than ever to keep building those strong connections.