AskMeDoctor! Season 3 Episode 4: Lockdown Fatigue and Mental Stress in Children

Are you feeling emotionally down more frequently throughout the COVID-19 pandemic?

While recognising our own emotions and distress, we should also pay more attention to our children. While being affected by physical distancing, quarantines and nationwide school closures, they might feel more isolated, anxious, bored and uncertain.

They might even experience fear or grief over the impact the virus has had on their families.

Whether you have noticed these negative emotions among your children or not, it’s time to look into how this pandemic has led to the possibility of lockdown fatigue and mental stress in children.

In this episode of the third season of AskMeDoctor!, we are here with Dr. Katyana Azman, a resident Child Psychologist at Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur. We are going to walk you through the ways to recognise signs of mental fatigue in our children and the ways to help them.

Q1: What is lockdown fatigue?

Dr. Katyana Azman: It’s a state of being very tired and overwhelmed over the idea of the lockdown and all the restrictions imposed upon it.

As you can see, the lockdown has affected the mental health of both adults and children negatively. As the pandemic has been impacting us for almost two years, people are starting to get extremely tired of the lockdown as well.

Q2: How does lockdown fatigue affect our children?

Dr. Katyana Azman: Looking from the academic-social and mental perspectives, the isolation and lockdowns have not been good for our children.

First, it really affects our children’s mental health as they are prohibited from learning and interacting with their peers. While socialisation is one of the essential developmental milestones for children, they are not able to do so while being locked indoors.

Schools have started to slowly reopen, and we are seeing lots of children who do not really know how to socialise with their peers appropriately. Little children are in fact quite scared of the other children. Some even get anxious whenever they are out as they have spent almost two years enclosed in the four walls.

As for school-aged children, they struggle with the extended virtual learning in which the whole nation has been doing since the lockdown. They find it difficult to adjust to have their learning online at home. Some of them even experience ‘learning lost’ where they are missing out on essential learning at school.

On top of this, I believe parents find it difficult too as we can’t really tell our children when the pandemic and lockdown will end. This is exactly why children are struggling with more anxiety.

Q3: Does excessive screen time affect our children’s mental health?

Dr. Katyana Azman: Excessive screen time hampers our children’s development, especially our toddlers and children of the early primary stage. This is because it affects their speech development and socialisation skills. Not only that, they are facing vision issues too due to the over-exposure towards the blue light.

Additionally, excessive screen time also impacts our teenagers in terms of body image and self-esteem besides their mental health. As they scroll through social media, they are exposed to posts and images that perpetuate the idea of perfection.

As their brains are not developed enough to recognise the possibility of the photos being edited and photoshopped, they would somehow feel negative as they realise their lives are not as interesting or as glamorous as their peers. Or they don’t look as gorgeous as those influencers whom they are following.

Q4: How do we recognise signs of anxiety or depression in a child?

Dr. Katyana Azman: As opposed to identifying your children with the signs you find on Google, what you should do is to look for change.

When we talk about change, it could be your children having different sleeping or eating patterns as compared to their routines. Or maybe they are reluctant to socialise with their friends or to play games all of a sudden.

Here’s why.

If you have younger children, they might not be able to describe their anxiety or depression. They might not be able to tell you:

“Mum/Dad, this is what I am feeling.”

On top of this, you might have elder children who are not that verbal or eloquent. They are more introverted. They might not tell you verbally on the issues they struggle with.

So, looking for any type of change from your children is a red flag.

Q5: How can you tell the difference between challenging behaviours and emotions that are a normal part of growing up, versus those that are cause for concern?

Dr. Katyana Azman: Try to look for consistency. Your children might be able to hide their emotions initially, but you will start to see the same emotions again and again. It’s non-dependent on any situation or environment. Look into whether you receive similar complaints and concerns from their teachers or grandparents as well. It is worth your concern if everyone around your children sees the changes in their lives.

After that, speak to any professionals to look for professional help.

However, if your child is behaving differently in different settings, for instance, he only throws tantrums when you and your spouse are around, it means he is able to regulate his behaviour.

He knows that he cannot behave in certain ways due to consequences.

Q6: How can we help our children deal with the ongoing lockdown while maintaining their mental health and well-being?

Dr. Katyana Azman: Undeniably, it is a difficult time for every one of us. As parents, we should embrace and recognise the fact. We should not have expectations that our children would be just good during the lockdown.

So, this is how we can help our children.

(a) Sustain open communication

Do have dinner as a family. Put our phones and devices away during our mealtime and make our dining table a device-free zone. Simply have everyone sit down for the meal and have some conversations. Catch up on how everyone is doing throughout the day and how everyone feels. You may use the time to plan for the next day, too.

By having casual conversations with your children, they will eventually learn to communicate and express themselves. Since everyone is locked indoors, now is certainly the best time to start the conversation!

More importantly, be open about your own feelings with your children and show them how you are overcoming your anxiety. Then, tell your children that they can do the same. Admitting to struggle does not show a sign of weakness. Instead of being fearful that your children might not respect you after your confession, let them know that you struggle as well and that having struggles is common.

Make sure that you set the right and constructive tone in conveying your feelings. Do not simply complain about your frustration to make your children, making them more depressed. Never instruct your children that they should do this or that to make them feel better, too.

With this, you will be able to show the right way to have healthy communication and encourage your children to do the same first with family members. They will then also be able to interact with their peers, teachers and others.

(b) Instill a sense of normalcy at home

While we might not be able to go to crowded events like a concert, we can still go to a movie nowadays. We also go to the mall or a park, as long as we are fully vaccinated.

For children, we can pitch a tent in our living room and have a little camping trip. Just try your best to bring back some normal activities that you and your family enjoy and do them as often as possible.

Your children will at least feel that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

Protecting Your Children’s Wellbeing At Every Stage Of Their Lives

While encouraging open communication with your children is vital for their mental wellbeing, it is just as important to provide them with access to good healthcare and adequate protection.

Understanding the concerns of every parent, AIA Malaysia has stepped up to play an active role in supporting and protecting families every step of the way through its Total Health Solution ecosystem, which focuses on empowering Malaysians to live well through AIA’s unique health programme, AIA Vitality, protect well with comprehensive and innovative product solutions, and get well with differentiated healthcare services that provide support from diagnosis to recovery.

Fitted with the company’s exclusive Total Health Solution ecosystem, AIA’s latest plan—A-Life Joy Xtra is a flexible, all-in-one protection and savings plan designed to meet your child’s protection needs. Not only does the plan cover pregnancy-related complications from as early as 13 weeks of pregnancy, it also offers the option to enhance your child’s protection to cover unexpected hospitalisation for your baby within the first 30 days of birth, as well as congenital conditions and child development disorders in the first five years of your child’s life. You are also able to allocate some money in this plan to build an education savings fund for your child.

Another unique feature in the plan is AIA’s Vitality Joy Wallet—which allows you to unlock greater protection for your children when you join AIA Vitality and make healthy choices in your everyday life. By staying healthy, you will earn benefits in the Vitality Joy Wallet, which can be utilised for your child’s vaccination, dental, optical, and hearing care expenses. As they say, healthy parents, happy children!

If you are looking for a shariah-compliant solution, you can consider the A-Life Ikhtiar Child Solution takaful plan. For more information about AIA’s plans, offers, activities and more, check out AIA’s Anakku Sihat, Negaraku Hebat campaign at www.aia.com.my/anakkuhebat.

If you wish to know about pregnancy, child care essentials and parenting from our group of experts, stay tuned to our next episode of AskMeDoctor!