A new podcast series will explore how to support children, adolescents and families during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) has developed the podcast series, ‘Parenting in the age of Coronavirus’, which unravels the challenges parents are facing and provides expert advice to practically help children and adolescents continue to learn, develop and thrive during this time.
The first three episodes will look at wellbeing concerns within different age groups from infants to secondary school students. Each episode will hear from different MCRI experts in each age category.
The first episode will focus on the 0–5 age group with guests Professor Sharon Goldfeld, a paediatrician, MCRI Theme Director of Population Health, and Director of the Centre for Community Child Health and Professor Frank Oberklaid, a paediatrician and MCRI Co-Group Leader of Policy and Equity.
“We discuss the real challenges of parenting during this complex time, explore the valuable skills children learn from play and how to facilitate learning, the signs of anxiety in young children and how to explain COVID-19 to young children in a calming way,” Professor Goldfeld said.
“Young children don’t always understand everything that is going on but they can pick up when something is not quite right.”
The initial three episodes are presented by MCRI Professor and Raising Children Network (RCN) Executive Director Julie Green.
Episode two for primary school students, with guests Associate Professor Margie Danchin, a paediatrician and MCRI Group Leader of Infection and Immunity, and MCRI Dr Jon Quach will discuss the importance of routines and the challenges of working from home at the same time as children remotely learning.
Episode three for secondary school students, with guests Professor Susan Sawyer, MCRI Group Leader of Adolescent Health and Director of the Centre for Adolescent Health, and MCRI Dr Rohan Borschmann, a psychologist, will explore how to approach physical distancing discussions, signs of anxiety in teenagers, positive thinking exercises and how to check up on their children’s remote learning.
To listen to all three episodes, visit the MCRI website.
