Lockdown Day 53 – Coming in from outside
Activities of Everyday Living
“Are we going back to school, or are we not going back to school?”
That IS the question!
While we await the next directive that details when, where and how the schooling sector will reopen and where early childhood fits within these plans, we need to start preparing children for the ‘new schooling normal’.
School will not be what it was when they left it. Educators and school administrators all over the world are grappling with the responsibilities and procedures of keeping the children and school staff safe and healthy.
Children will need to acquire a new skill set to fit into this new ‘everyday’ school world. They will also need to gain an (age-appropriate) understanding of why these new skill sets are necessary.
Besides regular sanitising and washing of hands (we assume that by now your children will have perfected these skills), another important skill will be knowing how to safely change shoes when transitioning from outside to inside (and vice versa).
Recent studies have shown that shoes are effective carriers of viruses, hence schools may well implement a policy of ‘indoor and outdoor shoes’ to limit possible virus spread within the classroom. This is a responsible for the home too!
* CHANGING SHOES *
We also need to consider that we are moving into the winter months when shoes are likely to be slightly more tricky to put on and take off. This may be a good time to consider what type of shoes would be the most appropriate for your child, given the skill set required to put them on and take them off.
* Explain to the child that shoes are in contact with all sorts of dirt and germs, and that these germs attach themselves to their shoes as they are walking or standing anywhere outside of the house. (This is true for inside of the house too, but let’s keep the outside germs outside and the inside germs inside!)
* For this reason, we want to make sure of two things: firstly, that we do not bring these germs into the house/classroom, and secondly that we want to avoid touching our shoes as much as possible and always sanitise our hands after putting shoes on or taking them off so that we do not get germs on our hands.
* Start with the pair of shoes that your child is most likely to be wearing outdoors. Practice putting the shoes on, and taking them off. Once the child has out the shoes on, remember to sanitise the hands carefully. The same applies once the child has taken the shoes off.
* You will also need to find a designated pair of ‘inside shoes’ that the child will need to be able to change into by her/himself. The same sanitising rules apply here too.
* Remember that as the adult – YOU are the role model. Your children will do what you DO, not what you SAY!
They say it takes three weeks to develop a habit – if you start today, your child should be appropriately ‘shoe-trained’ by the time schools go back!
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