Ways to Encourage Your Child to Wear a Mask

0
This post has been sponsored by Children's Health. All opinions are 100% our own!

Mask wearing is a new element of our daily life. It’s one thing to add to your checklist to get out the door each day, but it’s altogether another to teach your child to wear a mask regularly. If your family chooses to participate in socially-distanced activities or needs to run a few errands during the week, your child may be required to wear his or her mask for a few minutes or even a few hours at a time.

How to Encourage Your Child to Wear a Mask

It’s important to approach this new exercise as we approach anything with our kids. How did you introduce potty training, transitioning from a crib, or going to school for the first time?

Gather your supplies

  1. Masks: There are many different styles of masks available. The general consensus in some of our Neighborhood Groups suggests that Old Navy makes a really great option for kids! Old Navy and Target have both contoured and pleated options in lots of colors and patterns. You may need to try a few to find the best fit for your child.
  2. Lanyards: Don’t lose your masks! Keep them close at hand with snap lanyards. The ear bands easily slip off the paper clip style and you’re back to where you started!
  3. Ear band adjusters: It doesn’t hurt to keep these ear band adjusters handy for masks that are a little too big. If not, tie a small knot in the band!

Talk about it and model it

Even really young children can understand us when we take focused time to share with them. Explain to your child why we need to wear masks when we go out and that once they are back outside, in the car, or at home, they can remove the mask again! Model mask wearing for your children so that they become familiar with what it looks like when you wear your mask.

Practice

Allow your child time to practice mask-wearing. Start out asking them to wear their mask for a few minutes at a time at home, working up to longer periods of time. Take a walk through the grocery store with your child without purchasing anything so that you can make a quick getaway if necessary. Chances are, your child will do better with it than you think!

When you have to be somewhere for a long period of time, make sure to allow your child to have mask breaks outside or in the car away from others.

Children’s Health

Children’s Health is committed to remaining a trusted source of health information and care for you and your family during this time. See more resources to keep your family healthy at the Children’s Health COVID-19 hub.

CHILDREN’S HEALTH :: FACEBOOK :: INSTAGRAM :: TWITTER

Previous articleEasy and Fun Family Camping Meal Tips
Next articleA Summer to Remember at Camp Skylark
Katherine Hill
Katherine and her husband, Christopher, grew up in Dallas and met at SMU (Go Ponies!). They have been married 13 years, and although they love The Great State, they lived in DC and Baltimore for seven years, where they experienced actual seasons and great seafood! They made their way back to Texas seven years ago to be closer to family. While working full time and pregnant with their curly-haired Little Man (February 2015), Katherine completed her Master’s degree in Communication and Leadership at Gonzaga University. She continues to work full-time as an Executive Assistant in downtown Dallas. Katherine loves dining in Dallas’ local restaurants; chips and salsa are her weakness! When she’s not running after her family or busy with church activities, you might find her working on a homemade craft or two. You can catch up with her on IG @withlovebykitty

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here