Plan But Don’t Panic

The world is going fairly crazy over the Coronavirus - and I get it, these things are scary and overwhelming. I’m not a Doctor or a scientist but I’ve read enough to realize that for most people it isn’t dangerous. For the people it is dangerous for, it’s really dangerous. Obviously I don’t have the credentials or the expertise to advise people about when to panic or how to prevent the illness or the spread - what I wanted to discuss very briefly is about planning for the extreme without panic.

Last week in my house we were making a Costco list and deciding what items we needed in case of a quarantine. One of my older daughters expertly pointed out that even in that scenario, Instacart still functions (we hope) so she felt there was no need - but the planner in me didn’t want to be stuck with no cereal or staples if we somehow ended up locked at home. What I didn’t realize was how freaked out my 5th grader would become from the discussion. Apparently, between the news, school discussions and this - he was getting really scared.

So we had the following talk - and I’m sharing it in case it helps anyone else decide how to approach this unique situation with their children. I told him the following. We don’t expect a house fire but we put a plan in place to deal with it. We talk to our kids about how to get out if we’re trapped, what to do and where to be. We are not panicked or paranoid about whether we’ll have a fire, we are just planning. I explained that the same was true here - we don’t expect to get this virus, if we do get it, we aren’t even super worried about how sick it will make us - only that we might share it with someone else who is in a higher risk category. And that is why we need a plan - just in case we are secluded and have two weeks without leaving home. It’s not a panic, it’s a plan.

In general, I think we have to diffuse the fear about situations by arming kids with knowledge. Those things we can’t define or understand are always scarier than what we can name and have decisive steps to protect against.

Good luck and stay healthy!