Preparing Children's Health in Limited PTM Period

Preparing Children's Health in Limited PTM Period

By: Syifa Nurul Asma

In mid-October 2021, Yogyakarta has entered PPKM level 2, and limited Face-to-Face Learning (PTM) has started, but the main decision whether or not to allow children to go to school offline is up to the parents.
At the beginning of the last pandemic, many parents experienced multiple roles, mothers who worked from home (WFH) were also required to become school teachers for their children. The United States national survey in June 2020 stated that 27% of parents experienced worsening mental health and 14% treated children more roughly. This is accompanied by a worsening of the child's behavior. Of the families that experienced this deterioration, 48% came from families that had lost regular childcare, this is in line with surveys in Spain, Italy and China.
The mental health of parents is important, because happy parents will be able to accompany their children happily too. Limited PTM is one of the options currently provided by the government.
In starting limited PTM, parents should prepare their children to comply with health protocols, provide an understanding of the corona virus and how it is transmitted so that children understand why wearing masks, washing hands, and keeping a safe distance is necessary. Parents should also provide their children with hand sanitizers and spare masks in their bags for school, and try to provide the best nutrition and multivitamins if needed.
Allowing children to do limited PTM, or continuing to choose for children to fully study at home is a choice. There's nothing wrong with choosing to continue educating children at home, because there is still a risk of transmitting the virus outside the home, but it's also not wrong to decide to allow children to take part in PTM limited, for example so that children get a new atmosphere to meet peers. Each choice must be taken with various considerations. Don't be among parents who blame other parents' choices.
Whatever is chosen, in fact the one who can take care of our children is Allah, whether he is with us or not, Allah can determine whether the child is healthy or not. Although with us, we could have let our guard down. God willing, even though the children are not with us and we are preoccupied with goodness, Allah will also take care of our children to be in goodness.
Prayer is something we can do when we are away from our children. Pray for children to always be in a good environment, and healthy and fit. Shihah (healthy) and 'afiyah (afiat) actually have different meanings. Healthy is a good state of the body's organs, so healthy eyes are those that can be used properly without the help of tools such as glasses. Afiat means the functioning of the limbs in accordance with the purpose of Allah's creation. So an afiat eye is an eye that is able to see good and useful things and is kept away from immoral things. We should ask God for health and well-being through praying regularly in the morning and evening:
Allahumma 'afini fi bodii, allahumma 'afini fi sam'i, allahumma 'afini fi bashori la ilaha illa anta.

“O Allah, make my body healthy, O Allah, make my hearing healthy, O Allah, make my sight healthy. There is no god but You."
So during this time of pandemic and preparing for this limited PTM, let's try as much as possible to teach children health protocols, then entrust the health of children to Allah through prayer.