As your child prepares to take on distance learning, they may be met with a slew of challenges along the way. The transition from physical learning to online education may be overwhelming for them, so it’s important that you’re providing adequate support. Stress management for distance learning may be something that you need to pay greater attention to, especially during a pandemic. Your child might not necessarily be able to handle this kind of negative emotion. Compounded with a load of schoolwork that they have to accomplish, the stress can easily hamper their productivity during their classes. Read on to find out more.
Help your child organize
As mentioned before, your child may not necessarily understand how to properly deal with stress. But there are some tell-tale signs that can give you an idea of how they’re feeling. For example, if they seem more irritable than usual right before starting their classes, then this is a good indicator of stress.
Your child can’t manage this on their own — even something as simple as helping them organize their study spaces can already go a long way. Make sure that your child’s desk is free from clutter. Place materials such as pens, pencils, or papers, neatly into their respective storage containers. Since they’re also making use of devices like laptops or tablets, make sure that they’re not visiting websites that can distract their learning.
Make sure your child gets enough rest
It’s common for your child to become a bit more restless. The pandemic has created stressful situations for everyone, including your child. Though it may be challenging to achieve, setting aside time to get enough rest can help clear their mind and allow them to physically recharge to engage in online learning.
You may already be familiar with the adage that children need at least 8 to 10 hours of sleep — and rightly so. A good night’s rest can easily be the key to keeping them refreshed in the morning. Because they’re not experiencing a lack of sleep, they’re more physically capable of handling a healthy amount of stress as they’re learning. After all, sleep and mood are closely related to each other. Children who get enough sleep will be significantly less irritable compared to their peers who aren’t well-rested.
Allow them to take breaks
Just as you wouldn’t expect yourself to continuously work for 8 hours straight, the same thinking should also be adopted for children. Sometimes, the 15 to 30-minute breaks are the key to rewiring your child’s mind for learning.
Encourage your child to engage in breaks that are productive and can help them enrich their skills. For example, if your child has an affinity for games, allowing them to solve a short puzzle during their breaks can further stimulate their brain. This is both a fun, yet worthwhile way to spend their breaks. As they may take their breaks with the discretion of their instructors in their online class, it’s important to change up this routine and experiment on other creative activities.
Check in on them
When you’re checking in on your child in between their online classes, you need to make sure that you’re doing it sparingly and strategically. Doing this too much may cause them to be distracted. On the other hand, too little of this may lead them to feel even more stressed out than they would have liked.
When you check in on your child, provide them with suggestions on how you can make their learning easier for them. This may be your chance of finding out if they’re experiencing difficulties with a particular topic. The more your child feels you’re supporting them as they’re studying, the more they will be confident enough to disclose negative emotions to you. Subsequently, you’ll be able to guide them in managing it.
Key Takeaway
When it comes to distance learning, stress management is the key for your child to successfully navigate throughout this change. As mentioned before, this drastic shift from physical to virtual education may elicit feelings of stress. It’s your job as a parent to support them throughout it.
Through simple tips like checking in on your child, allowing them to take short breaks, or simply helping them get a good night’s sleep, they’ll easily feel more energized during their virtual classes. All of these are essential in developing within them an organized perspective, especially with respect to the challenges that may be presented by distance learning.
