This year has been challenging for all of us, and not just us adults!
The restrictions and confusion surrounding COVID-19 have affected our children, who may be facing school closures and plenty of days cooped up indoors. Now, with schools back in session in many places, you might find that your kids still aren’t seeing as many people or being as social as you might like.
While Kids Village is doing all we can to keep your children safe and follow health and safety guidelines within our doors, creating a social bubble of two or three families can help your family stay safe while letting your kids play and meet new friends.
The Benefits of Social Bubbles
According to Hackensack Meridian Health, creating a social bubble can go a long way in helping both your family and your community stay safe. Many of us have been doing our part by social distancing to slow the spread, but that extended isolation is hard on everyone, especially kids. Creating a social bubble, or “quaranteam,” can help you reconnect with friends or family while staying confident that you’re being safe.
Creating a social bubble with loved ones who are also taking precautions can help reduce the spread of the virus. By limiting the number of people you and your family interact with closely, you can limit your opportunities for exposure. Generally, social bubbles should be 10 people or smaller.
Finally, a social bubble is a great way to support your child’s social development in a time when social interaction is difficult. Even if your child is attending school, distancing guidelines and a lack of after-school activities, due to restrictions, can keep them feeling isolated.
A social bubble can create times during which your child can simply be a kid again.
Who to Include in Your Child’s Bubble
In order to ensure the safety of yourself and your kids, you will need to check that everyone in your quaranteam is taking the necessary COVID-19 precautions in their daily lives. This means asking a few tough questions:
- Is your family a mask family? Are you all wearing masks in public?
- Are you maintaining social distance? Do you stay six feet from others in public?
- Can we agree on a set of COVID-19 rules that we all will follow?
- Can we agree to limit our social activities to those within our bubble?
There are many aspects to virus protections that you may want to look for in your potential teammates. You can check if they buy their groceries in-person or have them delivered. You can check if they’re in the habit of showering and changing clothes when going out.
When with your quaranteammates, is hugging ok? Can you meet with non-teammates if the get-together is outdoors? What will you do if someone in the social bubble gets COVID-19?
All of these factors and possibly many more should be agreed upon by all members of your bubble. You may also want to have all members quarantine for two weeks to make sure that no one is sick.
Keep Your Child Safe with Kids Village Montessori
With winter right around the corner, it’s likely only going to get harder to safely have playdates and social gatherings. Going to school can be a great way for kids to try to make up for some of that lost socializing, but they may still feel lonely or bored.
Social development is also an essential part of growing up well. Creating a social bubble can help you find ways for your kids to be kids once school lets out for the day.
To learn more about how Kids Village is working to keep children safe during this pandemic, contact us at (956) 686-8602.