While Indu Lekshmi was resting on the couch flipping through an old magazine, her eight-year-old son sprang on her with a question. “Did you know there is a fish that’s born male and then becomes female?” he asked, his eyes wide with the thrill of new knowledge. Standing next to him was his 5-year-old sister jumping up and down as he spoke.
“No way. There is no such fish,” Indu teased him.
He showed her the book he read it from and Indu, looking at the picture of clownfish, said, “Why, so it is true. Good job, Niranjan,” she patted him.
Like all children, Niranjan and his little sister Nandana were upset at having to keep indoors all the time. The joy of skipping school was all good but they hated the idea of not stepping out to play. Indu, a techie-turned-writer based in Thiruvananthapuram, tackled the situation by packing their days with physical activities, a little bit of reading, and minimum exposure to screens of any kind.
That’s just about the right mix of things to do for children that was advised by Dr Anil Kumar TV, professor of psychiatry in charge of child and adolescent psychiatry at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College. The doctor has devised a 0 to 10 recipe for children to follow during the lockdown, to keep them healthy physically and mentally.
“Depending on the age of the children, the issues they have of coping, living indoors for such a long stretch, would be different. For adolescents, increased exposure to screens – mobile phones, television, tablets, etc – can cause behavioural issues. In addition to gadget addiction, they are at an age when they can be rebellious against their parents. For younger children, there can be emotional issues and hyperactivity. There is another category of children with developmental issues and some could have problems arising out of breaking therapy,” Dr Anil Kumar says.
0 to 1 recipe for children
In Dr Anil’s 0 to 10 recipe, every number indicates a solution. Zero is for parents to avoid zero tolerance and be patient when they spend time with their children, so that there are no unnecessary arguments. One is for an hour of physical activity and about so much of screen time for entertainment. Two and three refer to the number of hours children should dedicate for academic learning. Four is for the four-part ‘Myplate’ diet they should take, including fruits, vegetables, cereal and protein.
“Five is for high-five, referring to the quality family time parents should spend with children – be it eating or playing together. It is rarely that children have both their parents at home for such a long time so it’s a good opportunity to bond,” Dr Anil says.
Indu Lekshmi, Niranjan and Nandana
Six is for waking up at 6 am, though Dr Anil agrees that it might be a bit of a stretch to ask kids to wake up so early. “But it’s ideal to wake up early so they can sleep early and it would not be difficult to fall back into routine when they are ready to go back to school. Kids who stare at their screen in the night will find it difficult to fall asleep for another two hours. So if you want to sleep at 10, switch off screens at 8.”
Seven and eight therefore refer to the number of hours kids should sleep, and 10 the time they should go to bed. Nine is for meditation and stress management, the number being a symbol of magic and power.
Leaving kids alone
Indu, who also studied psychology, says she has learnt that physical activity releases the kids’ tantrums, not from her course but from the trial and error of raising children. She leaves the kids to their games, but insists on physical activity. “It can be push-ups or yoga or anything that helps them sweat it out for a bit,” she says. Sometimes she gets them involved in house work by making it seem like a competition – “Who can peel onions faster?” she’d ask.
This is also a time children seem to get close to nature – spending more time with pets or else the strange creatures that loiter in the backyard in these days of no traffic.
Advaith and Meera
Meera Nair, a poet and actor based in Thiruvananthapuram, says that her 9-year-old son Advaith began watering the plants at home one day.
“He is left alone to himself most of the time and comes up with activities that no one asks him to do. The other day he started painting pictures. He’d also come into the kitchen and make dosas. He says he really likes to flip them on the pan,” Meera says.
In Indu’s home, there is now a grasshopper living in a little nest made of cardboard and paper created by the two eager kids, with a little pan of water set outside for it to sit on. Surprisingly, the grasshopper never flew away.
Counselling service for stressed-out parents
It is not just kids who are affected, the lockdown can take a toll on multi-tasking parents too. Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja said in a press release that a telephone counselling service called Balamithram has been started for stressed-out parents.
Parents of children with developmental issues are especially finding it hard due to the break in therapy. Vidya (name changed), whose 7-year-old son with developmental issues had to break therapy, says that his hyperactivity has increased.
“They send us video links of lessons he has to practise and also ask us to shoot videos of practising at home. But the children are more used to teachers imparting these lessons and do not listen to us. Therapy is so important to them that the special schools do not even give two months’ vacation for the summer but cut it short by a month since the absence of lessons can cause behavioural changes,” Vidya says.