I'm Donna Lowry host of GPB lawmakers with your "What You Need to Know Coronavirus,"
web series from Georgia Public Broadcasting. More children are
home for longer periods of time these days with schools out because of the
coronavirus social distancing. For children at risk for abuse and neglect
child experts say this is a time that can jeopardize their safety. Joining me
via Skype is the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Sally
Goza. Dr. Goza heads the National Organization of 67 thousand members
while working as a practicing pediatrician in Fayetteville, Georgia.
Thanks for joining me Dr. Goza. Hi Donna good to see you today. Absolutely, this is
a this is a serious subject that we need to talk about, child abuse hotlines from
across the country are reporting that their numbers are actually down right
now, and I know you don't think that is good news right? So the number of calls
going into child abuse hotline being down is probably not related to the fact
that children are not still being abused. What we know is that children are home
right now and so they're protectors, the the school people, the counselors, the
people that see them in other places are not seeing them as much, and so they're
not being- things may not be being noticed. So the bruises or the marks or
the change of behavior that some of those people would notice is not
being able to be noticed. So these children may still be having trouble at
home and children don't like to talk about it, they don't like to admit it,
they're afraid if they do someone won't believe them or that someone if things
will get worse if they tell and sometimes it's just because they love
the person who may be abusing them so much that they don't want to tell on them.
Yeah and that's sad to say but it's true and then we've got the added stress that
parents are worried about their jobs, they're worried about not not working,
and they're all in a confined space. Right, it's really a stressful time for
all of us right now Donna. So you know the people are being furloughed from
their jobs there's just a lot going on right now and so we really need to be
cognizant of that because with all of those pressures and then having the
added pressure of your children at home with you 24/7 can really be a lot for
families so we need to be very cognizant of that. We need to help
parents understand that, find things for your children to do that they love to do,
make sure that you're reassuring them and telling them that it's going to be
okay, that things are gonna be alright they're gonna do their best to protect
them and answer their questions about what's going on and why can they not
go back to school. What is this virus, you know, try to try to get into that and
then also sometimes we need timeouts and so it's not only the children that need
timeouts sometimes it's parents that need timeout. So if you're really
stressed and what your children is doing is really getting onto your nerves it
may be time to find something to do take their sight for a little while or at
least out of your direct vision I'm not totally out of your sight but something
to do that they can do on their own where you can put yourself in a timeout
and have a little time to gather yourself. I tell parents all the time
when you see your child doing something that's annoying really stop and in just
a few seconds ask in your brain go, is it gonna matter in an hour, is it gonna make
day is it gonna matter in a month, or is it gonna matter down the road, and if you
say no to all of those things you need to take that step back and not say
anything because that's just gonna give them attention for doing something
that's annoying and they'll keep doing it. So what you need to do is catch your
children being good, catch them doing the things you'd like for them to do, and go
over and give them a lot of attention when they're doing those good things,
those good behaviors because then they'll do those to get your attention
because children really want your attention and that's what you have to
remember. So while you're trying to work from home you know and your child wants
the attention try to have a conversation before you start trying to work if
they're old enough and say mama's got to work right now so here's some things you
can do while I'm working and try to make sure that you've given that attention
when you don't have to be working when you have the time to give it to them so
that they know it's coming and that they'll get that. I think we forget to
say something good when they're doing something good, I really do. I love the
fact that now we're seeing in news reports that teachers are getting out
getting in their cars going down the streets you know trying to praise kids
those kind of things and I guess we need to do more of that maybe as neighbors as
friends. We do, so if you know somebody who's under a lot of stress their kids
are at home, their layed off from their job or they're just even home from their
job, let's reach out to our friends and family, let's make sure we're talking
to them were FaceTiming them. If you have neighbors you know go outside and stay
in your own yard that's social distancing or physical distancing and
you know 6 - feet, you can stay 6-feet and be in your own yards and you can
still have a conversation, you can still- you could barbecue outside just in your
yard and they barbecue in their yard and still share a meal together. So there are
lots of ways we can still have that social interaction which is so critical
to everyone's well-being in health and in mental health and so if you know
somebody who's got a new baby they can't have maybe the grandparents come over
and you know crying babies can be very stressful so reach out to those new moms
in your neighborhood or your friends that are new moms, FaceTime with them. COO
to that baby over the phone you know do all of that kind of stuff that you can
do - if this is a time Americans need to come together we need to take care of
each other. We need to make sure we're all doing
okay. Yea, I think we've been focusing so much on ourselves we forget that they we need
to reach out, good point Thank you so much Dr. Sally Goza, The
President of the American Academy of Pediatrics for joining us today.