Holidays with children in the time of the coronavirus: practical advice

Holidays with children in the time of the coronavirus

Summer has arrived and it's time to think about holidays with children: which destination to choose?

Sea, mountain or city: this year we need relaxing holidays, but always aware of the risks associated with the emergency coronavirus. The SIP sheds some light on the importance that children also follow all the prevention and hygiene measures recommended by the health authorities, arguing that sanitary measures "must be respected with precision".

Here are the advice of pediatricians for holidays with children at the time of the Coronavirus.

15 PHOTOS

15 activities to do with children on vacation or in their free time

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Many scientific studies have shown that children who spend a lot of time with their parents, who play with them and who feel they are involved in family activities, ...

In this article

• Playing outdoors 
• Play in small groups 
• We do not alarm children 
• The use of masks 
• Hygiene rules 
• What if you stay at home? 

Read also: Holidays with children: destinations and travel tips

Playing outdoors

There are those who decide to stay in the city, those who indulge in a bit of the sea, those who take walks in the mountains. What really matters is playing outdoors.

"Being outdoors, in a hot, dry climate, also makes it more difficult for saliva droplets to pass through than when you are indoors where there is more humidity, as is usually the case in autumn or winter," they recall. pediatricians.

Starting from 15 July also in Lombardy, it will be possible to stay outdoors without a mask.

Read also: Covid-19 and children: the possible indirect effects of the pandemic

Play in small groups

Children should follow this rule: play in small groups.

Playing with the same group of friends makes them run less risk of contagion and also makes it easier to trace the origin of a possible infection from the other.

Care should be taken that if you are aware that children are less affected by the coronavirus and even less contagious.

The little ones, however, suffered a lot during the lockdown period, and for this reason Rino Agostiniani, vice president of Sip, advises parents to be more reasonable: «In addition to the infectious risk, the pedagogical-educational one must be considered. I would never tell a child not to touch the games of others for fear of it being infected ».

Why are children more resistant to the coronavirus?

Infection in pediatric age appears to be rarer, or milder, but the scientific community has not yet found a certain answer - he replies Alberto Villani, president of the Del Paesena Society of Pediatrics. The mechanism is not clear, but what is certain is that there are few cases and no fatalities. Among the hypotheses that have been proposed at the moment, the most shared are two: first, thanks to vaccinations, the immune system of children has a better, faster and more complete ability to respond to infections in general and therefore also to this coronavirus; second, many children, already from the first months of life, are confronted with the large family of coronaviruses and therefore have a non-specific antibody patrimony against this specific coronavirus responsible for COVID 19 ".

Read also: Vaccinations for children in the time of Covid-19: why they must not be stopped

We do not alarm children

The little ones must be informed of what is happening e aware of what is happening around them. We will most likely have to live with this state of emergency for many months to come, and we will not have to let our guard down even during the return to school and next winter.

It is therefore important that parents instill awareness and give clear messages to their children, without thereby alarming them excessively.

16 PHOTOS

Beach holidays with children

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Beaches equipped for those with very young children, resorts and tourist villages with painting ateliers or summer football fields for older children and then residences surrounded by greenery with ...

The use of masks

If you travel on means of transport such as trains, buses, ships and airplanes, in which you are indoors and it is not always possible to maintain a safe distance of one meter, you will need to wear masks.

The masks must also be used by children over the age of 6, unless they have particular difficulties incompatible with the use of the device.

20 PHOTOS

Mountain holidays with children

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You know, with summer children can't wait to let off steam and the mountains offer a myriad of ideas for games and runs in the open air. Here is a series of proposals in Del Paese and ...

Read also: Covid-19 and masks: all the answers from the World Health Organization to the most common doubts

Hygiene rules

• Washing your hands often is always a valid hygienic device, even on vacation. It is a good idea to pay attention to hand hygiene, especially when touching surfaces. Have the children wash their hands for at least 1 minute by singing twice
  "happy birthday to you" and remember to turn off the water tap with a tissue. 
• Thoroughly clean smartphones and other devices at least once a day and avoid letting other people, even members of the same family, use them.
• Clean the surfaces where the child plays with disinfectants based on 75% alcohol (ethanol) or 1% chlorine based (bleach).

Read also: Children, tips to guide them during and after the Covid-19 emergency

What if you stay at home?

If we decide to to stay at home, there are many things you can do with children: "read together, leaf through atlases, or why not even a cookbook. Or listen to music, or play with old games, new games or even no games - pediatricians advise - only what we find around: corks, cardboard boxes, strings, colored paper, glue, plasticine ".

"Or look out of the window and comment on what you see and what you no longer see. Or use, this time well, your cell phone, to call your grandparents and ask how they are, or your friend from the school. force to resort to ready-made things, video, audio or other. You can come up with some ideas yourself - remember the pediatricians - it will be more fun ".

Sources for this article:

SIP Coronavirus. The advice of pediatricians

Read also: Staycation, or: how to vacation at home with children

Questions and answers

How to protect children on vacation? 

The Del Paesena Society of Pediatrics (Sip) recommends playing outdoors in small groups: children should always play with the same friends.

If babies cry are they contagious?  

Children's tears are not very contagious. The risk that the virus can be transmitted by crying exists, but it is very low. This is demonstrated by a study by the Bambino Gesù pediatric hospital.

Better by the sea or in the mountains?  

The place doesn't matter. We take the children to a place where they can spend their holiday peacefully with the rest of the family.

TAG:

• family vacations
• coronavirus