Students need to be ready to wear masks
Parents can help their kids adjust to this likely back-to-school mandate
ROCHESTER — When schools reopen, wearing a mask will be mandatory for everyone, even the youngest students.
The students will have to have them on nearly all day long, so whose job is it to make sure kids are wearing a mask?
Dr. Elizabeth Murray, a pediatrician at University of Rochester Medical Center, said masks do not have to become a contentious issue with children at home or school.
According to Murray, every child has skills he or she has to learn at home, and now is the time for parents to start making mask-wearing a habit. She advises creating a routine, just like brushing your teeth and combing your hair.
Murray also suggests having fun with it and letting children pick out their own masks. She said masks with two parts seem to work better for children.
Importantly, Murray also said you should teach your children to take off their masks from the front, instead of pulling on the loops. She emphasizes that this is a learning process that requires patience and understanding.
“When we're teaching a child to ride a bike, if they have trouble with it, we don't yell at them and get mad at them,” Murray said. ”We help them through it and that's the approach we need to take here. Yes, we need to have mask breaks. Some schools have bigger physical plans and they're going to be able to physically distance the kids and they'll be able to have more time without masks and there are going to be situations where they will be needed, but again it's the balance."
At home, Murray said to create a place for the used masks and clean ones and, if a mask is a little too big, she said just twist the loops to fit your child, then put it on.