Mammoth Blog

As kids flood back to school, you may be tempted to sit them down and give them a good talking to about H1N1.

Resist. Haranguing your kids to obsessively wash their hands or to shun schoolmates with a slight cough will only freak them out -- and will likely not help them avoid swine flu.

Here's how health professionals say you should talk to your kids about H1N1:

- If your children don't raise the issue, it's up to you to do it. One way to approach the topic is to ask what they've heard about it, so you know what's going through their minds.

"They may or may not raise it, but they're probably thinking about it," says Dr. David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer.

- Answer all questions and correct all misconceptions as clearly as possible. That means getting up to speed on H1N1 yourself. Be concrete in your answers and do not avoid hard questions. If you don't know the answer, it's OK to say, "I don't know, but I'll find out." Then do it.

- Calm down. "Kids pick up on our anxieties," says Butler-Jones. "If it sounds like we know what we're doing, then they're reassured." This will be easier if you're confident in the facts.

- Avoid calling it "swine flu." "That can sound scary for kids, who often make visual associations," says Dr. Virginia Bourget, a psychologist at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario. "A scary pig -- that's even worse than bird flu!" Try to stick to H1N1, or if that's a bit too scientific, try influenza. Even plain old "flu" will do.

- Although you should answer their questions about the flu, you must make it clear that it's not their job to worry about how to manage it -- at home or at school.

"Children will often think they're responsible for things they aren't responsible for," says Bourget. "That makes them insecure."

- It's inevitable that children will hear all kinds of things about H1N1 -- accurate and inaccurate -- but limit their exposure to media reports and adult conversations about the flu. They aren't appropriate for most school-age children and can raise their anxiety levels, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

- Don't brush off your kids' fears about the seriousness of H1N1, but do try to bring some perspective. If your son asks if people can die from this flu, don't lie. But do impress upon him that deaths in Canada have been rare, and most of those who died were already sick with something else.

"Children have a poor grasp of things like probability and numbers," says Bourget. "Even very bright kids, if you ask them how many people live in Ottawa, they might say a thousand."

- Reminding children about good hygiene habits is never a bad idea, but badgering children to wash or disinfect their hands probably won't lead to them doing it more often. Scaring them will not change their behaviour.

Instead, reinforce those habits by practising good hygiene yourself at home. At school, teachers will also lead by example, directing the entire class to wash their hands before lunch.

- If a classmate or friend gets sick -- which is likely -- make sure you explain to your children that it doesn't necessarily mean they too will get sick. If they do, stress that you will take care of them the way you always do.

- Children always need to feel safe and loved, and if they are worried about a situation like a flu pandemic, that need will increase. Make sure you let your kids know it's OK to feel angry or afraid. source>>>