I recently attended a presentation organised by Children’s Panadol, who have released the results from a global survey on parenting. An independent research organisation surveyed over 2000 parents worldwide on various parenting topics. After seeing the results, I am feeling so much better about the way I parent! Just some of the findings about Australian parenting are below:
One particular topic that scored quite highly across all countries was that over 80% of parents felt anxious when their child gets a fever. I have to raise my hand. I am totally that Mum that freaks out when my daughter has a fever. vomits or develops a bad cough.
Leading child psychologist Dr Kimberley O’Brien also spoke at the presentation about the effect of a parent’s anxiety on the child. When a child senses anxiety from their parents, this often results in the child experiencing stress and can worsen their symptoms, it can lead to excessive crying and it can also create seperation anxiety and withdrawal. Dr O’Brien suggested 5 tips to help you manage and soothe your child when they are sick:
1. Make a Plan
Having a plan means you won’t go into freak out mode. Based on certain symptoms, have medication in one central place in your home for the kids so you know where to go and what to give them. If you need to work the next day, make a plan on when you should pull the trigger on letting work know you won’t be at work and see if they have the flexibility of letting you work from home. If you have family that can look after your child, have a plan on when you should ask them to look after your child.
2. Empathise
Try to understand your child’s feelings. They usually are crying and clingier than normal which is exhausting on a parent, but if you can empathise with how they are feeling, it will help manage your own anxieties and exhaustion better.
3. Do Familiar Things
Try as much as possible to keep familiar routines to keep a sense of normality and to assure your child that everything is ok.
4. Manage Your Anxiety
Call on your support network, see your GP, research credible parenting websites if you are feeling anxious about your child’s symptoms. Once you have spoken to family, friends and medical experts, you will feel much more relaxed knowing how to manage their symptoms and how long before they should be back to their normal selves.
5. Know Your Tools
Get to know what will soothe your child – a favourite toy, book, song or a personalised video can help your child whilst you need to administer medication to them.
Children’s Panadol have come up with a fantastic FREE tool for all parents to help soothe your child whilst you are preparing and administering medication. Buddy Bear will say your child’s name, sing them their favourite song (there are 9 nursery rhymes to choose from), mention the carer’s name and you can also include a photo of your child in the video. Here is one I put together for my daughter and she is totally in love with Buddy Bear. When he finishes singing to her she asks for “moreeee….moreeee”
Head to the Buddy Bear website to start making your own videos for your little one.
[wysija_form id=”1″]