Coronavirus: How Adults Can Help Children Navigate the Anxiety

As Americans adapt to constantly evolving information regarding the Coronavirus, experts warn that we pay careful attention to our families, especially children. It is incumbent on adults to react appropriately to reduce children's anxiety over the uncertainty because children are always watching and they take cues from our behavior, whether spoken or signaled by our actions. According to Dr. Lynne Celli, associate dean of graduate education programs at Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts, to keep children as anxiety-free as possible, adults must practice and demonstrate self-management and self-awareness of their own anxiousness and be conscious of how this may be unintentionally transferred to children. Daily self-reflection is necessary, so adults are equipped with a mindset and skill set to positively interact with children of all ages. It is critical for adults to regulate their behavior, not only for their own emotional and physical health, but for that of their children. (This is known as consistent self-regulation.)

Dr. Celli is the Executive Director of Leadership and Professional Education at Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts. She has devoted her career to education at all levels for more than 35 years. She has been a teacher, principal, superintendent of schools, professor, and chair of a graduate program. Dr. Celli earned her Ph.D. and M.Ed. in curriculum, instruction, and administration from Boston College and her BA in sociology/education from Clark University.