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The world is a complicated place.  It has become even more complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic.  It’s hard for us to understand what’s happening, to sort through our emotions, and to predict what will happen next.  This is even harder for children.  They don’t have our knowledge or experience.  To them, this situation can feel even more frightening and even more unreal. 

In our daily interactions with our children, we often get caught up in reacting to their behaviour.  We might think that they are being ‘bad’ or ‘stubborn’ or ‘lazy.’  But our behaviour is simply an expression of our thoughts and feelings.  Our children are trying to tell us something, but they don’t always have the words to explain it. 

If we start to look at things through our children’s eyes, we begin to understand the real reasons for their behaviour.  Then we can support, guide and teach them with Warmth and Structure.

The buttons below will take you to information on how children think and feel at different ages.

Interactive PDEP Model | COVID 19 Response Page