Kids and Family Health

Coping with COVID-19

Families are navigating lots of new territory during the COVID-19 pandemic — remote learning, maintaining connections when you can’t socialize or play with friends in person, supporting emotional stability, and more.

Check these family resources for tips and tools:

• The Clay Center for Healthy Young Minds: 7 ways to support kids and teens through the pandemic
• FHAO: Parenting and caregiving for adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic
• McLean Hospital: Free webinars on child and teen mental health, parenting burnout, sleep, and more
• Mass General Office for Wellbeing: COVID-19 resources for parents
• The New York Times: How to talk to kids about coronavirus

Help your child learn good habits

Here’s a short tip sheet of 10 Healthy Habits , in English and Espanol.

Try using this worksheet to identify changes your family might be ready for now. Consider experimenting with just 1 or 2 changes at a time.

Write down goals and action steps for yourself and keep track of how often you reach them.

Your children can do it, too!

Sometimes, you might need a little help keeping your family on track with their health and wellness goals. A health coach can provide support and information as you work toward goals, and help you find new coping strategies and stay on course. Learn more about Kaiser Permanente’s health coaching.

Raising active kids

Being active helps you be healthier and stronger — and feel your best — at every age.

Want your family to be more active together?

• In Portland, play in the streets during Sunday Parkways presented by Kaiser Permanente, a series of free events opening the city’s largest public space – its streets – to walk, bike, roll, and play.
• Write down different activities on slips of paper and keep them in a “Get Up and Move” jar you can go to for ideas.
• Check your area park and recreation districts for activities and events.
• Try GoNoodle for lots of fun, short activities.

Encourage your kids’ schools to make physical activity a priority. Thriving Schools has some good tips and resources.

Encouraging smart food choices

Good nutrition is fundamental to healthy living.

• Find an eating style that works for your family and fits your everyday life.
• Check out this webinar and related resources on overweight children and “Helping Without Harming.”
• Help your family with who-when-how much of eating with the Divisions of Responsibility.
• Promote healthy eating at your kids’ schools with these tips and strategies from Thriving Schools.
• Food for Health has recipes and short essays about food and nutrition. There are also links to related sites, including these cooking videos, some featuring child helpers/testers.
• Being a picky eater is common among young children. These tips can help you deal with it in a positive way.

Watch these fotonovelas for health tips

Please watch these fotonovelas:

• Be Smart, Turn the TV Off
• Family Fun Brings Us Together
• Healthy Eating with My Family

Por favor vea esta fotonovelas:

• Hagase un Favor, Apague el Televisor
• La diversion en familia, une a la familia
• A Comer Bien con mi Familia

How do I help my tweens and teens stay healthy?

Helping your child through the tween and teenage years can be a daunting task. They’re growing up, their bodies are changing, and they’re more emotional about what you may consider to be the smallest things.

Learn more about how to guide your tween (11-14) and teen (15-18) to a healthy lifestyle.

Some good resources for your kids include:

• teenshealth.org
• Puberty–females
• girlshealth.gov
• Puberty–males
• MedlinePlus: Teen Health
• Planned Parenthood: Teen Wire

Keeping baby healthy

Helping your newborn have the best start in life is essential. From breastfeeding and bathing to how to calm your newborn, ensuring best total health from day one is critical.

If you are a Kaiser Permanente Northwest member, choose a doctor for your baby.

Learn more about how to care for your newborn and care for yourself.

When your baby sends signals that she’s hungry or full, it’s important to respond promptly — and in a way that’s warm and loving. This is called “responsive feeding” — watch a video or read about it. When your child is a little older, watch this video for tips about infant feeding and introducing solid foods. You can also read these tips for starting solids.

Your prevention plan

Staying well by preventing or delaying disease is possible with kids’ health screenings and immunizations. Prevention plans can be tailored to every member of your family.

Learn more about preventive care services and wellness resources in the My Health section of kp.org.

Kaiser Permanente members can sign up to Act for a Family Member — order prescriptions, send email, and view lab results and other health info of a family member.