D6
BACK TO SCHOOL
THE NORTH PLATTE TELEGRAPH
SUNDAY, AUGUST 9, 2020
To get kids used to masks, start before school By SUSAN SZUCH susan.szuch@ nptelegraph.com With a week or less before school starts, par-
ents still have time to get their kids acclimat- ed to wearing a mask. The playbooks re- leased by the North Platte Public School District have measures that coincide with where the needle falls on the West Central District Health Department’s COVID-19 risk dial. The risk dial is updated ev- ery Thursday. At all schools, masks are optional when the dial is in the green zone; “highly encour- aged” when students are “on the move” or work- ing with others when the dial is yellow; and mandatory when it’s in orange. Jodi Miller, a nurse with NPPS, said helping kids understand what’s going on in the world at the moment is the most important thing. “Number one: Education has to be there. People real- ly should be knowing what’s going on—we clearly have a pandem- ic going on,” Miller said. “To ensure yourself and others are safe, it’s good to be honest with kids so they knowwhy we’re wearing these (masks), because they’re not go- ing to understand why they need to wear them if they don’t understand what’s going on. We’re protecting ourselves and we’re protecting others.” Once the understand- ing of the situation is there, parents can start having their kids prac- tice wearing masks at home. Fran Rieken, a li- censed mental health practitioner at Great Plains Health, and her
Graphic courtesy of Great Plains Health
This image from a Great Plains Health handout demonstrates how to properly don, or put on, a mask.
Wearing a mask The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offer these tips on wearing a mask correctly: » Wash your hands before put- ting on your mask. » Put it over your nose and mouth and secure it under your chin. » Try to fit it snugly against the sides of your face. »Make sure you can breathe easily. Washing your mask According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, masks should be washed after each use. You can wash your mask in the washing machine with regular laundry. The CDC recommends us-
Tips for parents Advice from Fran Rieken, licensed men- tal health practitioner at Great Plains Health, and her supervisor Dr. Nancy L. Foster, as- sistant professor in psychology at University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Munroe-Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation. » Start practicing wearing a mask now, for short periods of time at home and always when families leave the house. » Find a mask that is comfortable for the child. This may require experimenting with different styles or fabrics. Just like how kids don’t want to wear uncomfortable clothes, they will protest something that’s itchy, rides up over eyes, fogs up their glasses, etc. Let the child have some participation in selecting their mask so they are invested. » Model mask wearing and the importance of protecting others. » Parents should talk about wearing a mask in a positive manner. If there are negative com- ments, that will only make a child resist more. “We all wear our masks when we go in the store.” Just like seat belts, parents should wear their masks to establish this as important! » Use positive reinforcement when children are wearing their mask. » Wait until everyone has a mask on before entering a store or new area. It’s a lot easi- er than trying to convince the child to wear a mask once inside destination. » Contact primary care physician for consul- tation on appropriate masks and fitting.
ing regular laundry detergent and the warmest appropriate water set- ting for the cloth used to make the mask. If you need to wash your mask by hand, you can prepare a bleach solution of 5 tablespoons house- hold bleach per gallon of room temperature water, or 4 teaspoons household bleach per quart of room temperature water. Some bleach products may not be suit- able for disinfecting, so check the label. Soak the mask in the bleach solution for 5 minutes and then rinse thoroughly with cool or room-temperature water. No matter how you wash the mask, make sure that it is com- pletely dry before wearing.
ting the mask on a bear at home or on a stuffed animal, seeing how it looks” can also be bene- ficial, Miller said. Regardless, the soon- er a child can get used to wearing one, the better. This can also help kids avoid uncomfortable masks, which will make them less likely to wear it properly, said Rieken, Foster and Miller. Miller recommended that parents try differ- ent fabrics and styles, and that a child-sized mask may be one of the most helpful things to seek out. “Size is the important thing in getting a com- fortable fit. Obviously a kid won’t be able to wear an adult mask,” Miller said. Adjustments also can be made for kids
supervisor Dr. Nancy L. Foster, assistant professor in psychol- ogy at University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Munroe-Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation, rec- ommend that parents have kids wear their masks for short periods of time and always wear themwhen they leave the house. Miller agreed, saying that the amount of time parents start with will vary with the age of the child. “It could be seconds to minutes the first time, and just gradually in- crease that. You have to be age and child specific —whether it’s minutes or hours,” she said. “Depending on the age of the child, put-
who wear glasses, such as buttons or ribbons, to ensure a solid fit. “It does take thinking ahead to what the barri- ers are going to be.” The fit of the mask and how it feels in dif- ferent environments are more reasons that it’s important for kids to try out masks before school starts. “Wearing themasks before they’re in school can help prevent uncom- fortable fits, tomake sure that it’s not gaping or rubbing against their ear all day,”Miller said. “Try (wearingmasks in) dif- ferent areas—wear it at Grandma’s house; wear it, obviously, toWalmart. Evenwear it outdoors, because with the heat, it does make you feel a lit- tle different.”
Rieken and Foster also pointed out that the parents’ attitude toward masks will de- termine how a child feels about the mask. Modeling mask wear- ing in public sets a good example for kids. Miller is hoping that parents take the oppor- tunity before school starts to help kids un- derstand why wearing a
mask is important, but she also recognizes that there may be a learning curve along the way. “Honestly, the first days to possibly weeks are going to be filled with education,” Miller said. “We’re going to use many platforms — whether it’s posters, teacher education, vid- eos. We’ll definitely try to help the best we can.”
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