With all the school notices, news reports and parental warnings, our children run the risk of H1N1 information overload. How much information is too much? What should we keep from them? Child psychologist Mike Assel, associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics and staff psychologist in the Children’s Learning Institute at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, gives us some advice.
Q: How do we talk to our children about H1N1? On one hand, we want to inform them about the importance of cleanliness and washing their hands to prevent them from catching H1N1. On the other hand, we don’t want to scare them to death. How can we strike the proper balance?
A: Provide them with true and developmentally appropriate information that is sensitive to their emotional needs.
It is tragic that people have died from H1N1. USA Today reports that “The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly 2 million people nationwide have been infected with the virus and 522 have died (editor’s note: the number has now risen to 593, as of Aug. 29).” If we take those 522 deaths reported by the CDC as of last month and divide that by the 2 million people who have been infected, we wind up .000261 of infected people dying from the H1N1 virus. Older children will understand this type of reasoning. Younger kids might not understand the math, but do respond positively to parental reassurances that even if people get sick with the virus, almost all of them recover.
For younger kids, we can tell them not be afraid because Mom and Dad will take care of them, yet still encourage them to take precautions against getting H1N1, like covering their mouths when coughing, sneezing into their arms and using hand sanitizer in public places. If they ask why we need to take these precautions, we can tell them simply that we don’t want to get sick—that’s how we keep healthy. We don’t need to go into much more detail than that. Just be calm and reassuring, be realistic about the risks without alarming children. Children tend to mirror the emotions of their caregivers. If parents are anxious and extremely worried, children are going to wind up being incredibly anxious.
Q. Should we tell kids that people died from H1N1?
A. For kids younger than 5, you really don’t need to go there. For older kids, if they ask, you can tell them something along the lines that, “Yes, a very small percentage of people can die from the virus, just like with any type of flu or sickness.” However, reassurance that parents, pediatricians, and school officials will do whatever it takes to keep us healthy never hurts.
These conversations should come up at naturally occurring times, for example, talking about a friend who got sick, or discussing a note sent home from school about H1N1.
Q. At what age do kids understand about death?
A. A child’s understanding about death is a gradual process. Very young children (under 3 years) really do not have an understanding of death. However, they sense the sadness and anxiety that deal creates for others in their environment. Preschool–aged children (3 to 6 years) might think that death is reversible or temporary. This is sometimes referred to as “magical thinking.” As children move into the true elementary school age years (6 to 9 years) they begin to understand the finality of death.
A child's grasp of the concept of death is a gradual process. Repeated exposures to death within the home, such as the death of pets, are important for a child beginning to be able to understand the consequences of death.
Q. What else can parents do to help their kids?
A. Parents should work to ensure that children are not basing their information about H1N1 on rumors and innuendo. For instance, even though children might find it exciting to speculate whether a child who is absent has H1N1, not every child who goes home from school has H1N1. Sometimes a cold is just a cold and the flu is just the flu.
To make vaccination a little easier, explain that it is one of the things that we do to be prepared, such as washing our hands. We can also reassure our kids that if they do indeed get sick, they are fortunate enough to have a good doctor that will take care of them and to live in an area with access to some of the best doctors in the world.
Q. What can parents do to ease their own anxieties?
A. Follow the same advice they are giving their kids. Be realistic about the risk of H1N1. Trust the experts. Right now, they are advising us to live our lives, practice good hygiene and take precautions. Let’s not drive ourselves insane with worry. We just need to take the risk into perspective and live our lives as normally as we can.
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Dr. Michael Assel is an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics and staff psychologist in the Children’s Learning Institute at UT Houston.
Eating healthy
reverses metabolic syndrome
Dr. Tasnime Akbaraly of University College London and her colleagues were interested if healthy eating could actually turn-the-tide and reverse metabolic syndrome, which is having 3 or more of the following risk factors: excess abdominal fat; high triglycerides, hypertension, low levels of HDL the “good” cholesterol, or type 2 diabetes. Having metabolic syndrome doubles a persons’ risk of heart disease and greatly increases the odds of developing type 2 diabetes.
The researchers studied 339 British civil servants with metabolic syndrome, and how closely the adhered to the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) to see if it could help reverse metabolic syndrome. The AHEI is a set of published nutritional guidelines by the Harvard School of Public Health in 2002 that emphasizes whole grains, fruits, vegetables and decreased red meat consumption.
Five years into the study, nearly 50% no longer had metabolic syndrome. People who followed the AHEI guidelines the closest were nearly twice as likely to have reversed their metabolic syndrome. The results of the study were published in Diabetes Care, online July 29, 2010.
Dr. Alice Lichtenstein, an expert on diet and heart health from Tufts University in Boston who was not involved in the study said, "It's not about focusing on individual components of the diet, it's really the whole package, and that becomes important because it means that if one of the components of a healthy diet is to eat more fruits and vegetables, just buying a pill saying that there's a concentrated extract of fruits and vegetables is probably not what's going to help you."
Call and make an appointment with Wellness Coach Sam Hester, CWC, CPT, LWMC, at 713-500-3327. It's confidential and free. For more information on the wellness services provided, visit UT Counseling and WorkLife Services.
