Parent and Caretaker Resources and Recommendations

If you are pregnant or just had a baby, see our page for pregnancy, birth, and caring for your newborn.

Staying up to date

• In rapidly changing health events and outbreaks such as the COVID-19 pandemic, there is often incorrect or partially correct information that can add to your stress and confusion as a parent or caregiver.
• Identify a few trusted sources of health information for parents and families, such as:
  • Center for Disease Control's Information on Caring for Children (CDC)
  • American Academy of Pediatrics Parenting (AAP)
  • The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN)
• Discuss COVID-19 with your family. Be sure to include:
  • What is the current disease outbreak?
  • How does it spread?
  • What are the possible dangers?
  • Protective steps being taken in the community/nationally/globally.
  • Protective steps everyone in the family can take.
• Hold family discussions in a comfortable place and encourage family members to ask questions. Consider having a separate discussion with young children in order to use language they can understand and to address their specific fears or misconceptions.
• Keep a list of community resources, including phone numbers, websites, and social media accounts. You might include schools, doctors, public health authorities, social services, community mental health center, and crisis hotlines.
• Stay in touch with family and friends by telephone or online services.

Hygiene, Medical Care & Supplies

• Have all family members practice preventive behaviors including:
  • Regularly washing hands for 20 seconds with soap and water (length of the A-B-C song) or use alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.
  • Avoiding close contact with people who are sick.
  • Staying home when sick.
  • Covering the mouth and nose with a tissue or with the bend/crook of the arm when coughing or sneezing.
• Keep basic health supplies on hand (for example, soap, alcohol-based hand sanitizer, tissues, and a thermometer).
• Make sure you have a supply of any medications that you or family members take regularly.

• Make sure to have drinking water, nonperishable food, and cash.
• Collect activities, books, and games for children. Remember to get batteries, too.

Coping with the Stress Caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic

Even if your family is prepared, an outbreak can be very stressful. To help your family cope with this stress, following these recommendations can help:

Information & Communication

• Keep updated about what is happening with the pandemic and additional recommendations by getting information from credible media outlets, local public health authorities, and updates from public health websites (for example, CDC).
• Seek support and continued connections from friends and family by talking to them on the telephone, texting, or communicating through email or social media. Schools may have additional ways to stay in contact with educators and classmates.
• Although you need to stay informed, minimize exposure to media outlets or social media that might promote fear or panic. Be particularly aware of (and limit) how much media coverage or social media time your children are exposed to about the pandemic.
• Email and texting may be the best ways to connect with others during a pandemic. Be aware that the internet may have misinformation. Check in regularly with your children about what they've seen on the internet and clarify as needed.
• Focus on supporting children by encouraging questions and helping them understand the current situation.
  • Talk about their feelings and validate them.
  • Help them express their feelings through drawing or other activities.
  • Clarify misinformation or misunderstandings about how the virus is spread and that not every respiratory disease is the novel coronavirus that can cause COVID-19.
  • Provide comfort and a bit of extra patience.
  • Check back in with your children on a regular basis or when the situation changes.
  • During a pandemic, stigma and rejection can occur against groups and individuals closely impacted by the disease, and assumptions about a person's health status is made based on their ethnicity, race, or national origin Here is a four-step process for speaking up against bias and stigma.

Scheduling & Activities

• Even if your family is isolated or quarantined, this will be temporary.
• Keep your family's schedule consistent when it comes to bedtimes, meals, and exercise.
• Make time to do things at home that have made you and your family feel better in other stressful situations, such as reading, watching movies, listening to music, playing games, exercising, or engaging in religious activities (prayer, participating in services on the Internet).
• Have children participate in distance learning opportunities that may be offered by their schools or other institutions/organizations.
• Recognize that feelings such as loneliness, boredom, fear of contracting disease, anxiety, stress, and panic are normal reactions to a stressful situation such as a pandemic.
• Help your family engage in fun and meaningful activities consistent with your family and cultural values.

Hygiene & Medical Care

• Find ways to encourage proper hygiene and health promoting behavior with your children (create drawings to remember family routines; sing a song for length needed to wash hands like the Happy Birthday song, twice). Include them in household jobs or activities so they feel a sense of accomplishment. Provide praise and encouragement for engaging in household jobs and good hygiene.
• Reassure your children that you will take them to the doctor and get medical care if needed. Explain, however, that not every cough or sneeze means that they or others have COVID-19.

Self Care & Coping

• Modify your daily activities to meet the current reality of the situation and focus on what you can accomplish.
• Shift expectations and priorities to focus more on what gives you meaning, purpose, or fulfillment.
• Give yourself small breaks from the stress of the situation.
• Attempt to control self-defeating statements and replace them with more helpful thoughts.
  • Checklist for identifying unhealthy thoughts and coping with them.
• Remember, you are a role model for your children. How you handle this stressful situation can affect how your children manage their worries.
• If your family has experienced a serious illness or the death of a loved one, find ways to support each other, including:
  • Reach out to your friends and family, talking to them about the death of your loved one. Use telephone, email, or social media to communicate if necessary.
  • Find ways to honor the death of your loved one. Some activities may be done as a family, while others may be done individually.

Seek religious/spiritual help or professional counseling for support. This may be available online or by telephone during an outbreak.

Helping Children Cope

Your children may respond differently to an outbreak depending on their age. Below are some reactions according to age group and the best ways you can respond:

Seeking Additional Help

If you or a loved one is having a difficult time coping with the pandemic and want to seek outside help, there are ways to get that help. For example:

Get support regarding your anxiety or stress by speaking to a trained counselor at SAMHSA Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-985-5990 or by texting TalkWithUS to 66746.

Contact your physician or your insurance company (if they have a consultation line) to ask health-related questions or to seek mental health support.

Learn more ways to help your family. Additional resources can be accessed at:

• 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) & Parenting
• Parent/Caregiver Guide to Helping Families Cope with the Coronavirus Disease 2019
• How To Talk With Children About COVID-19
• Just For Kids: A Comic Exploring The New Coronavirus
• Learning about pandemics for kids

More COVID-19 Information and Resources

Stay up-to-date on the current COVID-19 situation in Washington, Governor Inslee's proclamations, symptoms, how it spreads, and how and when people should get tested. See our Frequently Asked Questions for more information.

The risk of COVID-19 is not connected to race, ethnicity or nationality. Stigma will not help to fight the illness. Share accurate information with others to keep rumors and misinformation from spreading.

• WA State Department of Health 2019 Novel Coronavirus Outbreak (COVID-19)
• WA State Coronavirus Response (COVID-19)
• Find Your Local Health Department or District
• CDC Coronavirus (COVID-19)
• Stigma Reduction Resources

• Have more questions about COVID-19? Call the DOH information line: 1-800-525-0127. The phone line is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday excluding state holidays. Language assistance is available. For questions about your own health, COVID-19 testing, or testing results, please contact your health care provider.