How to Help Your Baby Through Hard Changes & Topics, Like a Pandemic and Civil Unrest

Parent Overload

Parenting has never looked so hard. Parenting has never felt so overwhelming. Parenting has never been hit in the face with such a hard brick wall of global uncertainty, unrest, and hurt with the coronavirus pandemic and civil unrest.

As you are striving to help your baby through the discomforts of teething, to major growth spurts, to becoming progressively more mobile, to trying new foods, your baby’s little world is filled with change as it is, not to mention everything else that’s going on outside.

But let me assure you, now is the best time to set a foundation of reassurance, structure, and change for the better for your little one.

Be Prepared

As the coronavirus showed us, being prepared is essential. Otherwise, we are left scrambling and even fighting one another for toilet paper, water, cleaning supplies, and food.

Having a basic food supply in your home with enough of the essentials that you know your family uses and enjoys is a great way to start, as we have come to see how life can change in an instant.

This can be taken in small steps that can become habit, such as watching for sales and comparing prices of items, buying particular or well used products in bulk, and picking up one or two extra items to add in your cupboards, freezer, and pantry.

Another way of being prepared is making sure that we are taking care of our health. As we take seriously simple steps such as regularly washing our hands, having a yearly physical checkup, and teaching our little ones how to be aware of their bodies needs and how they function, will give them aid in actively listening to and being aware of their body, an increase of love and care for their well-being, and preparing themselves to make their wellness a priority.

Take Things One Step at a Time

One of the best pieces of advice I was ever given was: when hard times come, and they will, is to take the difficult happenstance and everything else going on a week at a time. If you can’t do that, take it all a day at a time. If that’s too much to handle, take things an hour at a time. And if even that is too much to handle, focus on what needs to be addressed now, and then take one step at a time from there.

Too often in our fast-paced lives, we are told that if you don’t achieve a specific checklist you are behind, have great need to be stressed, and will run yourself on empty.

Doing so will decrease the previous need of being prepared and taking care of yourself.

Take time to make an inventory of what needs to be done this week, this day, or even in this very moment, so that you can better meet and even embrace changes taking place in your life.

Looking ahead, making action plans rather than just goals, and allowing room for change as change is constantly inevitable in this life, will show your little one how to face and handle what may lie before them in a positive and healthy manner.

If they see that you are choosing to embrace change and not become a defeatist when it knocks on your door, it will allow your little one to not fear the unknown, but to plan as best they can and move forward come what may.

We have seen as all our lives were disrupted so suddenly by the coronavirus, how so many stepped up to the plate, focused their sights on what they could control, and made the most of it, that they were able to find the good and be creative.

When hard changes arise, point out to your little one what they can do rather than focusing on what cannot be done or what can no longer be.

Giving them this opportunity to problem solve and expand on their creativity will bring them added purpose and even peace.

Here are 5 books to help your little one embrace life changes and be reminded of what matters most along the way:

All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon
Oh, the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy
Wherever You Go by Pat Zietlow Miller
Little Tree by Loren Long

The Need to Address Civil Unrest with Your Little One Now

Even now, you lay the foundation for your child’s outlook on the world and the type of human being they’ll become.

You may think your little one is too young or you may feel that they may be too overwhelmed by the civil unrest that is taking place because of all the fear, the upheaval, the uncertainty, and the hate that so often comes with it and is often focused upon.

But it is your example that can set the course for peace and change in the rising generation found in your own home.

Your little one understands more than you may realize and are extremely impressionable.

From even three months old they can differentiate race and gender. According to a 2005 study published in Developmental Science, lead researcher, Dr. David J. Kelly said “…that preferential selectivity based on ethnic differences is not present in the first days of life but is learned within the first three months of life…”.

This doesn’t mean that infants know their own race or race in general. But their ability to distinguish could very well represent the beginnings of categorization based on ethnic differences, and it might provide the basis for the tendency to more easily recognize faces that are most familiar.

And as stated above, race differentiation and how it is viewed is learned. Therefore, as the saying goes, there is no time like the present.

Show and Tell

Talk simply but straight-forward with your little one about how to treat and stand up for those around them, especially those that are different from them. Express love and concern towards the events that are taking place within the black community, as well as express active hope for change in all you say and do.

There is so much you can do every day with them even now, from the books you read to them, the movies you watch as a family, and even the people you invite into your home and life.

But don’t make it a one-time ordeal. Make it the norm.

Having them introduced to and familiar with a variety of races and backgrounds will broaden their perspective of the world around them, educate them of their peers and friends to be, and will set the foundation of love and respect towards all, no matter their difference in race, belief or opinion from themselves.

There are also many contributing advocates and influences that you can have a part of your little one’s life that’ll help and buoy the example you’re striving to set.

From Fred Rodgers to Sesame Street, having your child introduced to examples of kindness and the beauty of diversity when they’re small will add to their outlook on members of the human race, add positively to the molding of their character, and their desire to lift and love one another will grow.

Your active example will instill in your little one the importance of diligently building bridges of learning, love, & understanding, to take down walls of segregation.

Help lead the way for your little one to be the kind of person contributing solutions to yesterday and today’s problems.

Let us teach, show, and instill in our children that there is room for everyone in this world.

Here are 5 books to help your little one on respecting and celebrating people of color and differing backgrounds overall:

I Am Enough by Grace Byers
All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold
It’s OK to be Different: A Children’s Picture Book About Diversity and Kindness by Sharon Purtill
We’re Different, We’re the Same (Sesame Street)
Skin Like Mine by Latashia M. Perry

Take Heart, Dear Parent

As you no doubt feel the weight of responsibility growing heavy on your shoulders, take this time to know that you live in a time of great resources at your fingertips – seek them out and use them, know that your good example and active, diligent efforts are enough and that you are not alone.

The task of parenthood especially now may feel daunting, but as you take it seriously and sincerely, week by week, day by day, and step by step you’ll be contributing to the molding of a good member of the human race.

The greatest work you will ever do truly will be within the walls of your own home, my dear fellow parent. Do your best to raise good human beings who prepare and take action, look out for, and love one another.

Let us actively teach our little ones at every age and stage of life the importance of standing up. To speak up in unfairness. To learn. To love. To grow.

Now I’d love to hear from you, what has been a book that has taught you about the importance of respecting all walks of life, or a book that has been a comfort for you through life’s changes?

Please comment below and share this post if it has been of value to you or could be of value to someone else.

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About the Author

Hi there! I’m Stephanie Tracy, a freelance writer and blogger for hire. I specialize in physical and mental health, parenting, and self-development. I create engaging, inspiring and useful content to help businesses progress in making their viewers into customers. When I’m not writing, you can find me on the floor happily playing with my baby boy, walking in the park with my family, or indulging in a movie marathon with my husband.