Effective Parenting in Times of Corona (guest post by Dr. Haim Omer)


The continuity principle: How parents, teachers and social leaders can help children in times of Corona

This post was written together with Dr. Rina Omer

The continuity principle is a unified concept for coping with disaster and trauma formulated at the time of the First Golf War. Based on a review of the literature (Omer, 1991) the principle of continuity stipulated that "during crisis and disaster, one should aim at preserving and restoring functional, interpersonal and personal continuities, at the individual, family, organization and community levels." Functional continuity is the ability to go on functioning in spite of disturbances. Interpersonal continuity refers to the maintenance of contacts with family, friends, colleagues and any other circles to which one belongs. Personal continuity refers to feelings of sameness and coherence in our sense of self. For instance: for a 10-year old boy, functional continuity will comprise routines such getting-up in time to go to school, getting dressed, having breakfast and leaving for school, going through the school-day, doing homework, performing other routine activities (such as sports or hobbies), taking care of personal hygiene and going to sleep at the prescribed time. Interpersonal continuity will comprise those acts that maintain his relations with parents, siblings, grandparents, friends, classmates, teachers, etc. Personal continuity refers to the routines and messages that convey a sense of identity that may be paraphrased by statements like: "I am a good student!" "I love football!" "I have lots of friends !"

Crises are situations that threaten to disrupt those continuities. The continuity principle tells us that the best way of caring for individuals, families and communities during crises is to maintain those continuities that still remain and restore those that were disrupted. Breaches in daily routine, interpersonal relations, and sense of identity may aggravate the consequences of the crisis. This is true in war, disaster or trauma, as well as for any disruption negatively affecting a child, such as the eruption of social phobia or school avoidance. The same holds for times of Corona. We should then so act as to maintain and restore those continuities that are being threatened. Coming back to our 10-year old, we should take care that he wakes up at the usual time, fills up his morning with school-related tasks, keeps regular times for hobbies, computer and talking with friends, and takes part in family routines, such as sitting together at dinner. We should encourage him to keep in touch with his friends, classmates, teachers, grandparents and cousins. We should help him keep the sense of being a student, and practicing the skills and hobbies that characterize him.

Read the rest of the post HERE.

Dr. Haim Omer is the author of Courageous Parents.

Courageous Parents will be released in July.

His book is available at online sellers on pre-order. Barnes and Noble, during the coronavirus pandemic, is he most reliable, but Amazon will be back in the book deliver service, we believe, after lockdown is over.

Barnes and Noble
Amazon

Readers can get a 40% discount at the MSI Press webstore by using the code ad40.

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