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Welcome to the Looking After Ourselves Resources

Below is a taster of what to expect in the different sections. Please encourage your child to explore the website and try out some of the activities, challenges and tips.

Plan your day

At any times of uncertainity or change, some familiar routine and structure in the day can help children feel secure. It’s a good idea to keep it simple – so break the day down into manageable chunks.

It might suit you best to have a couple of activities that will happen about the same time everyday. Don’t make it too much hard work, and don’t worry if it doesn’t always go to plan.

Sometimes things take longer than you might expect! Or if an activity is going really well then you might want to keep going with it for a bit longer than originally planned. What works best for one child might be very different for another.

Eat Well & Be Active

We know that looking after our physical health can really help with looking after our emotional wellbeing – so we have included a section on this.

Try to all eat healthy, well balanced meals and drink enough water. Get your child involved in thinking about menu plans for the week – or create a favourite dish together.

Find time to Be Active - there are lots of exercise videos and apps online for everyone at home to try!

Sometimes we might struggle to find the motivation to be active – but usually we feel better after just 10mins of giving something a go!

Relax & Sleep Well

Finding time to relax every day is really important – especially if we are feeling worried, low or stressed.

There are lots of different ways to Relax – and we want to encourage children to think about their favourite ways. We’ve included a muscle relaxation exercise that can be done with or without music – at any time. It’s quite nice just before bedtime.

We know that good-quality sleep makes a big difference to how we feel mentally and physically – and that it’s important to get enough. Children aged 7-10 years are thought to need 10-11 hours of sleep each night to be at their best the next day. There are tips for Sleeping Well on the website.

What to do About Worrying

There is a section with simple tips to help children if they are worrying. Social media and the news can increase anxiety. So if your child is worrying try to limit how much time they spend looking at it. This advice applies to all of us! It’s a good idea to make a time each day to switch off from screens.

Staying Connected

Learn

Doing a little bit of reading, writing and maths everyday will help your child maintain and develop their skills. They may be sent work home from school that can structure this.

But children learn in all sorts of ways over and above schoolwork - so there are opportunities everywhere - games, arts and crafts, baking etc.

Play

Making time to do things we enjoy is really important. Playing helps children interact with the world around them and is one of the main ways they learn and develop. There are some suggestions on the website – but really the list is endless.

Create

As well as being great fun, and taking our mind off worries, this can give children a real sense of achievement and develops concentration and self-confidence. Working on projects helps children make choices, express themselves and problem solve.

Talk

Even if we can’t meet up in person - we can still connect with family and friends over the phone and through video call apps.

Sometimes it might be hard for children to know what to talk about if they haven’t seen each other for a while – so help them think of ideas for conversation…or think of games they can play together while on the phone... or create a quiz for them to share.

Take time to talk to each other at home. Children often open up when they are in the middle of doing things – or when we are! Use everyday opportunities - mealtime, when playing a game, bedtime - to listen to your child.

Tip

At the end of the day - take it in turns to say...

One thing that made you happy.
One thing you did to make someone else happy.
And one thing you have learnt today.

Looking After Ourselves As Parents

It’s important, as parents, that we look after ourselves too. There are simple things we can do that help – and all the tips in Looking After Ourselves apply to adults as well as children!

Children quickly pick up when parents are worried – so if you are feeling stressed try and follow some of the tips, and make sure you are making time to...

Eat Well

Be Active

Relax

It’s also important to Stay Connected: try and have some fun together at home – play games, film night etc. And connect with friends and family with phone, video calls etc.