How should parents care for and explain to a child why he needs to be isolated from his family, including his siblings?
Ten days of isolation can be daunting for everyone at home.
It is important to have open and honest communication with the child on the reasons for the isolation.
Children need to be assessed regularly. This could involve temperature taking and oxygen saturation monitoring.
By mixing the medical routine with play or distraction techniques, it could help parents deal with fretful children, said Dr Rie Aoyama, paediatric infectious diseases associate consultant at the National University Hospital’s Khoo Teck Puat – National University Children’s Medical Institute.
During isolation, the children can be engaged with a few non-screen-related interactive activities, such as lego projects, jigsaw puzzles, or other arts and crafts to help pass the time.
She added that it is important that the other children in the family understand the reasons why their sibling is isolated.
Parents can also get organised by having a summary or a list of the child’s medical history at hand, in the event that this is needed during the telemedicine consult, Dr Aoyama said.
Associate Professor Sashikumar Ganapathy said that the caregiver (usually a parent) who is with the child may also use video and phone calls to interact and engage with the rest of the family.
A simple countdown chart may help too.
“Family members can brainstorm together on activities to cheer the child up without physical contact,” added Prof Sashikumar, who is the head and senior consultant of the department of emergency medicine at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
