By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Mar. 25: Rima Sharma, mother of two children, is tense these days as she has to manage them during lockdown.
Although the government asked people to stay home to remain safe from the coronavirus, Sharma said she was finding it difficult to retain her son and daughter within home because they always wanted to go out to play with other children.
Like Sharma, Susma Adhikari of Chitwan has been compelled to make her five-year-old daughter cry every day to keep her within home the whole day.
These two are only representative cases, showing that keeping children home during lockdown has become a challenging job to many parents. With schools closed for an indefinite period and many outdoor activities closed, most parents do not know how they can hold their kids and even teenagers at home
As an incentive to keep them at home, the parents give mobile phones and exaggerated information about COVID-19.
However, child psychologists said exaggerated information about COVID-19 might traumatise the children and it would invite psychological problem in them.
Dr Ganesh Dhakal, a psychologist, suggested the parents to engage their children in indoor activities like painting, singing, dancing which they can enjoy.
Likewise, Dhakal suggested engaging children in different exercises, including yoga while staying in social isolation. Chatting with them, informing and asking them for sanitation might be the best option to keep children happily at home, he added.
Dr Rabi Shakya, another child psychologist, asked the parents to spend quality time with children. Shakya said both the parents and children both become happy while spending quality time. “The parents can teach their children to make tea. Parents can help them make tea. Children become happy while getting engaged in new job.”
Playing cartoon for children may irk the parents while playing cards by parents may be boring for children. That may not be quality time because these activities cannot make both the parties happy, he added.