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Tips for Keeping Kids Safe and Having Fun During the Summer of Covid-19
Dr. Linda Brown shares tips for keeping kids safe and having fun this summer.
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Learn more about Linda Brown, MD
Linda Brown, MD
Linda Brown, MD is a Family Medicine physician with a special focus on pediatrics, Emerson Family Medicine at Maynard.Learn more about Linda Brown, MD
Transcription:
Tips for Keeping Kids Safe and Having Fun During the Summer of Covid-19
Prakash Chandran: As parents, when we think summer, we think fun for our children, but in the midst of this COVID pandemic, we want to make sure our kids have fun, but do so in a safe way. We're going to talk about it today with Dr. Linda Brown, a Family Physician at Emerson Hospital. This is Health Works Here, the podcast from Emerson Hospital, I'm Prakash Chandran. So Dr. Brown, great to have you here. You know, as a parent myself, I want to make sure that my kids have fun this summer. And I actually think that people aren't talking enough about how hard it's been on them, but I have no idea how to help them do that. So maybe we'll start with, you know, what have you seen? And maybe you can provide some common examples that you're giving people around helping their kids have fun this summer.
Dr. Brown: Absolutely. That's a great question. I mean, I think the whole change that we've all had to face with COVID-19 has, has rocked our world a little bit. And now we're looking forward to this wonderful summer and trying to figure out how to keep our kids busy, but also safe. And there really are plenty of ways to do it, especially in the beautiful weather. I often, I'm telling the parents of my little patients, outdoor activities, you know, get the kids out for a hike or a bike ride. There's natural social distancing there there's fresh air, and you're going to burn off some of their excess energy. You know, do you have a pet, could you teach your dog a new trick? Could you take it for a walk this summer? How about, you know, planting a garden, or if you live in an apartment, get some seeds in a big pot and watch those seeds grow over the summer. I know there are just there a million ideas go to a local farm, take a horseback riding lesson, go to a bird sanctuary and get your kids a camera or a pair of binoculars. Even inside on a rainy day, you know, teach your little ones to cook some simple recipe. There's so much that can be done.
Host: Absolutely. And we're now living in a time where things are slowly starting to open back up. And obviously they've set things up to where you can do it in a safe way. I have a question for you though. I was at a park the other day. I took one of your pieces of advice. I went out, went to a park just to get out with my daughter. And it seemed like there was a lot of people there and I'm sure a lot of people might feel uncomfortable and say, well, you know, maybe I shouldn't be here. Maybe I should go somewhere else. Do you have any thoughts around how parents should deal with crowded spaces?
Dr. Brown: True. I think everyone's trying to get outside. And sometimes we all end up in the same place. I think definitely to keep ourselves and our children safe, if you get somewhere and you're looking forward to a great outing and it's super crowded and you cannot keep that social distance, maybe you could have a backup plan. Maybe there's somewhere else you could go to for that hike, get back in the car and go to someplace a little bit more remote. The internet is a great way to find different hikes in the area. You know, when you are there, you want to do all the things that will keep you safe. So even if you're in a moderately busy place, but you feel like you can social distance, make sure that if your kids are two or older, they've got their cotton masks on. And you know, you're teaching them to wash their hands before they have their snack or use hand sanitizer. But with all this, you know, I guess I typically tell parents don't be afraid and we can all make this work and our kids can have fun. So get that message across your kids. This beach might be a little too crowded, but we can go a little bit down the road and find another place to have some fun.
Host: Yeah, that totally makes sense to me. One of the things that you mentioned was the importance of having your kid wash their hands and stay clean. I'm curious about public restrooms because while you're out there, inevitably your kid might need to go to the bathroom. How do you recommend that young children use them appropriately?
Dr. Brown: Oh, this is difficult even without COVID-19. So I've always recommended the parents go into the restaurants with their kids and it's really especially important now. I mean, this is how I would recommend doing it. You know, you've got your hand sanitizer, give a quick squirt and have them rub their hands together as they're walking to the bathroom, go in with them. When they're done going to the bathroom, you're going to supervise them, washing their hands with soap and water. You can sing the ABC song. That's about how long they should be scrubbing. And then, you know, I actually recommend the extra step of grab that paper towel and use it to open the door of the restaurant. So you can leave without touching those handles that aren't always sanitized.
Host: So what about when your kids run into a friend that they haven't seen for awhile? You know, I imagine that they're not thinking about these rules. I remember I was out and my daughter ran out to go pet a dog of a friend. And I was like, is that okay? So I'm sure there's so many things that are running through our minds, that our kids aren't thinking about, you know, should we, as parents be concerned or what are some of the signs and symptoms that we should watch out for or teach our children?
Dr. Brown: Yeah. I mean, these things are going to happen and they may even happen multiple times a day. Right? So first I think we should all as parents just take a deep breath. It's going to be okay. Kids are social beings. We all are social beings. And this distancing thing is hard. It's super unlikely that one slip up, one hug of a friend is going to cause COVID-19, so we don't want to panic, but you know, if you are concerned that you or your child may have been exposed to COVID-19, there's some things that you can look for. Unfortunately, a lot of these signs and symptoms could be other things as well. So yeah, things like a fever over 100.4, upper respiratory things costs or throat runny nose, but also sometimes stomach things. So nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, the loss of the ability to smell and taste is an interesting one that we have been seeing with COVID-19.
Muscle pains, headaches, you know, in kids, sometimes their physical feelings come out emotionally, right? So they might be more moody or crying or irritable. So we want to, as parents we're watching for that anyway. There are a lot of the parents of my youngest patients are asking, well, what about this, you know, inflammatory syndrome thing, that's happening with some kids and they're appropriately scared about it. You know? So things with that, things that we see it's going to be more severe symptoms. So rash, really intense stomach pain, bloodshot eyes, the kids are just exhausted. They don't even want to get up. So all of these things, I mean, parents know their own children and I never want them to hesitate to call. We're always willing to talk with them. And as parents ourselves, we understand. So don't be afraid to reach out to your child's doctor.
Host: Yeah. One of the things that I just took away from that is that, you know, we, we know our kids and we know how things normally are. So if there is something wrong or if we're detecting that something is abnormal, it never hurts to reach out to a healthcare physician just to figure out what's going on. I wanted to ask a question related to us as parents getting some reprieve, you know, typically during the summertime, we might be able to send our kids to camp or employ a babysitter more often, but we can't do those things anymore. Those options aren't necessarily available. So as things slowly start to open back up, what advice might you have for parents around trying to either getting a sitter safely or really giving ourselves a break or just another way for our kids to be taken care of so we can take care of ourselves.
Dr. Brown: Yeah, it's tricky. And you know, a lot of parents need to get back to work now. So they're trying to figure out what to do for their children over the summer. There are a lot of college kids that are looking for jobs right now and would be wonderful and exciting sitters for our kids. There are some interesting questions now, though, in this summer of COVID-19, because it's not just that we need those watching our children to be safe when they're with us, with our kids, but we need them to be safe holistically. So if we're having them, you know, wear masks and you know, all the different things, then they need to be doing that when they're with their friends, or they could be putting our family at higher risk. So there's an interesting way to start this discussion as you're interviewing someone who might be a good caregiver for your kids.
And I think a quick and easy way, there is a family physician. Her name is Dr. Evelyn Dacher and she's come up with a really cool COVID-19 risk tolerance scale. It's on a zero to five from, yeah, I don't leave my home at all to, I want to get COVID-19, scale rating and you, and your family can read through the different levels and figure out, you know, where are you on that scale? What are you most comfortable with? And then, you know, you can actually hand the scale to someone interviewing to watch her kids or talk to them about it and make sure that they're going to stay at that same level that you are comfortable with.
Host: So in addition to COVID, I'm wondering if we need to be concerned with other health things that might come up with our children this summer such as ticks or Lyme disease, or triple E that we saw so much in the news or sunburns. I'm wondering about your thoughts on that and how we might prevent some of the things that I just mentioned from happening.
Dr. Brown: That's a great question. I mean, right before COVID-19 we still had things to worry about with our kids and things we want to protect them against. So yeah, I mean, it's a huge topic, but if we just briefly touch on each one, you know, sunscreen children, six months of age and older, and all of us adults should be using sunscreen with SPF 30 or above and making sure to reapply if we've been out a long time, if we go in the water. So the same old sunscreen recommendations, you know, the ticks, Lyme disease and other diseases, the mosquito born diseases, they're all still there, unfortunately. So we want to avoid, if we can, grassy areas. Ticks, tend to live on the parameter. They don't tend to live in the middle of our cut lawns. They tend to live more where the grass is high at the edges in open fields, in woods, at the edge of paths. So I think it's a good idea when we've been out having wonderful adventures with our kids, for all of us to tick check.
So we tick check our kids and then we tick check ourselves. If they're not on there a long time, they really can't do us any damage. They can't hurt us. So that's one of the beautiful things about ticks that if we, if we search ourselves and we get them and get them off, off her clothes, then we're in good shape. You know, mosquito repellent is a good idea if you're going to be in the woods, if you're going to be in a spot with, with lots of mosquitoes or you're going to be out at dawn or dusk, when they tend to be feeding more, you know, I think for the CDC website is a great spot. If you have like deeper questions, extra questions about some of these things that we may not have time for today, they've got information for parents and you can pull up Lyme disease, ticks, Triple E. You know, you can, you can pull up all of these things and get any information you would want.
Host: Yeah, that's really good advice. You know, one of the things that I wanted to ask as we close here is one part of what we've talked about today is keeping our kids safe and healthy while they're having fun. But another part of that is how they continue to learn throughout the summer so they can be ready for when they start school in the Fall. Do you have any thoughts around that?
Dr. Brown: I love this question. I have four kids myself, and I love this question. I think for my own kids who are now, you know, young adults, but I always wanted them to love learning. If they kept that love for learning, I felt like they could succeed in school and do anything. One of the keys for that I think is reading. So we've got the time this summer, everyone loves a good story. It's a great time for our littlest ones, even our middle school kids, you know, reading a great story as a family or older kids finding them books that line up with their passions. You know, I think things that we've talked about before, like going on hikes and all that, but we could get even more into it. I mean, even dirt around our homes is rich. You know, we can learn all sorts of things about growing things about bugs, about composting.
We can dig up some worms and go fishing. We can research, learn a little bit, draw the different creatures around our home. I don't know, little, little kids can, can draw pictures for grandparents. Older ones can start being pen pals with family members or friends, you know, the old snail mail way. It's a great way to keep learning and get excited when the mail comes. I think, you know, keeping them social, even if they have to be distant, so Skype or FaceTime or other ways to video connect with friends and family are great. I mean, I heard recently I actually participated in a virtual petting zoo. There was about 30 families and some of the kids had brought a favorite stuffed animal. Some had the family dog or gerbil, or even bird, and everyone had a chance to go and introduce their favorite animal and tell a little bit about it and everyone could learn and you know, that kind of thing can be set up so easily and the kids love it.
Host: What an amazing idea. I'm going to definitely take that one. Yeah. Because my wife and I, we kept checking to see if the petting zoo is open, but you know what, there are other ways to do this. And I think that's part of the point. It's like trying to adjust to the new circumstance we're in, but that doesn't mean that we can't have fun, that we can't connect with people that we can't continue to learn. So thank you so much. A lot of what you have said today is just so helpful for me, especially, you know, I think just the final thing that I want to ask you is that we covered a lot today, but if there's one thing that you could have parents take away from this conversation, even if it's something that you haven't said yet, what would that be?
Dr. Brown: Yeah. I mean, I think this is a new normal, and there are some basic safety tips we've got and we, you and I talked about them today, but I guess I would just say, you know, don't miss those silver linings. This is a summer where you can maybe be with your family more than you would have if COVID-19 weren't around, you're going to be able to watch as your kids, like they grow and they learn, and they're just experiencing life with you. And that's precious. And I guess I'd add another one if I can, you know, in the midst of all this, make sure to carve out some downtime for yourself.
Host: Absolutely. Well, I think that's a perfect place to end. I really appreciate your time today. That's Dr. Linda Brown, a family physician at Emerson Hospital. Head to Emersonhospital.org for more information. Thanks for listening to Emerson's Health Works Here Podcast. Subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast source, including Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, and Spotify.
Tips for Keeping Kids Safe and Having Fun During the Summer of Covid-19
Prakash Chandran: As parents, when we think summer, we think fun for our children, but in the midst of this COVID pandemic, we want to make sure our kids have fun, but do so in a safe way. We're going to talk about it today with Dr. Linda Brown, a Family Physician at Emerson Hospital. This is Health Works Here, the podcast from Emerson Hospital, I'm Prakash Chandran. So Dr. Brown, great to have you here. You know, as a parent myself, I want to make sure that my kids have fun this summer. And I actually think that people aren't talking enough about how hard it's been on them, but I have no idea how to help them do that. So maybe we'll start with, you know, what have you seen? And maybe you can provide some common examples that you're giving people around helping their kids have fun this summer.
Dr. Brown: Absolutely. That's a great question. I mean, I think the whole change that we've all had to face with COVID-19 has, has rocked our world a little bit. And now we're looking forward to this wonderful summer and trying to figure out how to keep our kids busy, but also safe. And there really are plenty of ways to do it, especially in the beautiful weather. I often, I'm telling the parents of my little patients, outdoor activities, you know, get the kids out for a hike or a bike ride. There's natural social distancing there there's fresh air, and you're going to burn off some of their excess energy. You know, do you have a pet, could you teach your dog a new trick? Could you take it for a walk this summer? How about, you know, planting a garden, or if you live in an apartment, get some seeds in a big pot and watch those seeds grow over the summer. I know there are just there a million ideas go to a local farm, take a horseback riding lesson, go to a bird sanctuary and get your kids a camera or a pair of binoculars. Even inside on a rainy day, you know, teach your little ones to cook some simple recipe. There's so much that can be done.
Host: Absolutely. And we're now living in a time where things are slowly starting to open back up. And obviously they've set things up to where you can do it in a safe way. I have a question for you though. I was at a park the other day. I took one of your pieces of advice. I went out, went to a park just to get out with my daughter. And it seemed like there was a lot of people there and I'm sure a lot of people might feel uncomfortable and say, well, you know, maybe I shouldn't be here. Maybe I should go somewhere else. Do you have any thoughts around how parents should deal with crowded spaces?
Dr. Brown: True. I think everyone's trying to get outside. And sometimes we all end up in the same place. I think definitely to keep ourselves and our children safe, if you get somewhere and you're looking forward to a great outing and it's super crowded and you cannot keep that social distance, maybe you could have a backup plan. Maybe there's somewhere else you could go to for that hike, get back in the car and go to someplace a little bit more remote. The internet is a great way to find different hikes in the area. You know, when you are there, you want to do all the things that will keep you safe. So even if you're in a moderately busy place, but you feel like you can social distance, make sure that if your kids are two or older, they've got their cotton masks on. And you know, you're teaching them to wash their hands before they have their snack or use hand sanitizer. But with all this, you know, I guess I typically tell parents don't be afraid and we can all make this work and our kids can have fun. So get that message across your kids. This beach might be a little too crowded, but we can go a little bit down the road and find another place to have some fun.
Host: Yeah, that totally makes sense to me. One of the things that you mentioned was the importance of having your kid wash their hands and stay clean. I'm curious about public restrooms because while you're out there, inevitably your kid might need to go to the bathroom. How do you recommend that young children use them appropriately?
Dr. Brown: Oh, this is difficult even without COVID-19. So I've always recommended the parents go into the restaurants with their kids and it's really especially important now. I mean, this is how I would recommend doing it. You know, you've got your hand sanitizer, give a quick squirt and have them rub their hands together as they're walking to the bathroom, go in with them. When they're done going to the bathroom, you're going to supervise them, washing their hands with soap and water. You can sing the ABC song. That's about how long they should be scrubbing. And then, you know, I actually recommend the extra step of grab that paper towel and use it to open the door of the restaurant. So you can leave without touching those handles that aren't always sanitized.
Host: So what about when your kids run into a friend that they haven't seen for awhile? You know, I imagine that they're not thinking about these rules. I remember I was out and my daughter ran out to go pet a dog of a friend. And I was like, is that okay? So I'm sure there's so many things that are running through our minds, that our kids aren't thinking about, you know, should we, as parents be concerned or what are some of the signs and symptoms that we should watch out for or teach our children?
Dr. Brown: Yeah. I mean, these things are going to happen and they may even happen multiple times a day. Right? So first I think we should all as parents just take a deep breath. It's going to be okay. Kids are social beings. We all are social beings. And this distancing thing is hard. It's super unlikely that one slip up, one hug of a friend is going to cause COVID-19, so we don't want to panic, but you know, if you are concerned that you or your child may have been exposed to COVID-19, there's some things that you can look for. Unfortunately, a lot of these signs and symptoms could be other things as well. So yeah, things like a fever over 100.4, upper respiratory things costs or throat runny nose, but also sometimes stomach things. So nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, the loss of the ability to smell and taste is an interesting one that we have been seeing with COVID-19.
Muscle pains, headaches, you know, in kids, sometimes their physical feelings come out emotionally, right? So they might be more moody or crying or irritable. So we want to, as parents we're watching for that anyway. There are a lot of the parents of my youngest patients are asking, well, what about this, you know, inflammatory syndrome thing, that's happening with some kids and they're appropriately scared about it. You know? So things with that, things that we see it's going to be more severe symptoms. So rash, really intense stomach pain, bloodshot eyes, the kids are just exhausted. They don't even want to get up. So all of these things, I mean, parents know their own children and I never want them to hesitate to call. We're always willing to talk with them. And as parents ourselves, we understand. So don't be afraid to reach out to your child's doctor.
Host: Yeah. One of the things that I just took away from that is that, you know, we, we know our kids and we know how things normally are. So if there is something wrong or if we're detecting that something is abnormal, it never hurts to reach out to a healthcare physician just to figure out what's going on. I wanted to ask a question related to us as parents getting some reprieve, you know, typically during the summertime, we might be able to send our kids to camp or employ a babysitter more often, but we can't do those things anymore. Those options aren't necessarily available. So as things slowly start to open back up, what advice might you have for parents around trying to either getting a sitter safely or really giving ourselves a break or just another way for our kids to be taken care of so we can take care of ourselves.
Dr. Brown: Yeah, it's tricky. And you know, a lot of parents need to get back to work now. So they're trying to figure out what to do for their children over the summer. There are a lot of college kids that are looking for jobs right now and would be wonderful and exciting sitters for our kids. There are some interesting questions now, though, in this summer of COVID-19, because it's not just that we need those watching our children to be safe when they're with us, with our kids, but we need them to be safe holistically. So if we're having them, you know, wear masks and you know, all the different things, then they need to be doing that when they're with their friends, or they could be putting our family at higher risk. So there's an interesting way to start this discussion as you're interviewing someone who might be a good caregiver for your kids.
And I think a quick and easy way, there is a family physician. Her name is Dr. Evelyn Dacher and she's come up with a really cool COVID-19 risk tolerance scale. It's on a zero to five from, yeah, I don't leave my home at all to, I want to get COVID-19, scale rating and you, and your family can read through the different levels and figure out, you know, where are you on that scale? What are you most comfortable with? And then, you know, you can actually hand the scale to someone interviewing to watch her kids or talk to them about it and make sure that they're going to stay at that same level that you are comfortable with.
Host: So in addition to COVID, I'm wondering if we need to be concerned with other health things that might come up with our children this summer such as ticks or Lyme disease, or triple E that we saw so much in the news or sunburns. I'm wondering about your thoughts on that and how we might prevent some of the things that I just mentioned from happening.
Dr. Brown: That's a great question. I mean, right before COVID-19 we still had things to worry about with our kids and things we want to protect them against. So yeah, I mean, it's a huge topic, but if we just briefly touch on each one, you know, sunscreen children, six months of age and older, and all of us adults should be using sunscreen with SPF 30 or above and making sure to reapply if we've been out a long time, if we go in the water. So the same old sunscreen recommendations, you know, the ticks, Lyme disease and other diseases, the mosquito born diseases, they're all still there, unfortunately. So we want to avoid, if we can, grassy areas. Ticks, tend to live on the parameter. They don't tend to live in the middle of our cut lawns. They tend to live more where the grass is high at the edges in open fields, in woods, at the edge of paths. So I think it's a good idea when we've been out having wonderful adventures with our kids, for all of us to tick check.
So we tick check our kids and then we tick check ourselves. If they're not on there a long time, they really can't do us any damage. They can't hurt us. So that's one of the beautiful things about ticks that if we, if we search ourselves and we get them and get them off, off her clothes, then we're in good shape. You know, mosquito repellent is a good idea if you're going to be in the woods, if you're going to be in a spot with, with lots of mosquitoes or you're going to be out at dawn or dusk, when they tend to be feeding more, you know, I think for the CDC website is a great spot. If you have like deeper questions, extra questions about some of these things that we may not have time for today, they've got information for parents and you can pull up Lyme disease, ticks, Triple E. You know, you can, you can pull up all of these things and get any information you would want.
Host: Yeah, that's really good advice. You know, one of the things that I wanted to ask as we close here is one part of what we've talked about today is keeping our kids safe and healthy while they're having fun. But another part of that is how they continue to learn throughout the summer so they can be ready for when they start school in the Fall. Do you have any thoughts around that?
Dr. Brown: I love this question. I have four kids myself, and I love this question. I think for my own kids who are now, you know, young adults, but I always wanted them to love learning. If they kept that love for learning, I felt like they could succeed in school and do anything. One of the keys for that I think is reading. So we've got the time this summer, everyone loves a good story. It's a great time for our littlest ones, even our middle school kids, you know, reading a great story as a family or older kids finding them books that line up with their passions. You know, I think things that we've talked about before, like going on hikes and all that, but we could get even more into it. I mean, even dirt around our homes is rich. You know, we can learn all sorts of things about growing things about bugs, about composting.
We can dig up some worms and go fishing. We can research, learn a little bit, draw the different creatures around our home. I don't know, little, little kids can, can draw pictures for grandparents. Older ones can start being pen pals with family members or friends, you know, the old snail mail way. It's a great way to keep learning and get excited when the mail comes. I think, you know, keeping them social, even if they have to be distant, so Skype or FaceTime or other ways to video connect with friends and family are great. I mean, I heard recently I actually participated in a virtual petting zoo. There was about 30 families and some of the kids had brought a favorite stuffed animal. Some had the family dog or gerbil, or even bird, and everyone had a chance to go and introduce their favorite animal and tell a little bit about it and everyone could learn and you know, that kind of thing can be set up so easily and the kids love it.
Host: What an amazing idea. I'm going to definitely take that one. Yeah. Because my wife and I, we kept checking to see if the petting zoo is open, but you know what, there are other ways to do this. And I think that's part of the point. It's like trying to adjust to the new circumstance we're in, but that doesn't mean that we can't have fun, that we can't connect with people that we can't continue to learn. So thank you so much. A lot of what you have said today is just so helpful for me, especially, you know, I think just the final thing that I want to ask you is that we covered a lot today, but if there's one thing that you could have parents take away from this conversation, even if it's something that you haven't said yet, what would that be?
Dr. Brown: Yeah. I mean, I think this is a new normal, and there are some basic safety tips we've got and we, you and I talked about them today, but I guess I would just say, you know, don't miss those silver linings. This is a summer where you can maybe be with your family more than you would have if COVID-19 weren't around, you're going to be able to watch as your kids, like they grow and they learn, and they're just experiencing life with you. And that's precious. And I guess I'd add another one if I can, you know, in the midst of all this, make sure to carve out some downtime for yourself.
Host: Absolutely. Well, I think that's a perfect place to end. I really appreciate your time today. That's Dr. Linda Brown, a family physician at Emerson Hospital. Head to Emersonhospital.org for more information. Thanks for listening to Emerson's Health Works Here Podcast. Subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast source, including Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, and Spotify.