Message from Mayor Pineda: Resources to help kids cope during COVID-19

I have been giving a lot of thought to the children of our community, and to ways to help them cope during the COVID-19 pandemic. Disruptions to daily schedules that provide the structure they need to thrive, the stress that parents and other family members are experiencing, and the sense of loss and isolation caused by the lack of social interaction add up to a heavy burden for our community's children and teens.

I want to call your attention to a tremendous resource provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to support the social, emotional, and mental health of our community's children and young people during these unprecedented times.

These resource kits are broken into age categories: Early Childhood (0-5 years), Childhood (6-12 years), Adolescence (13-17 years), and Young Adulthood (18-24 years).

They identify the challenges within each age group, which in itself is helpful, and outline what parents/caregivers can do to provide stability and support.

This information is on the CDC website, CDC.gov, as well as crisis resources when overwhelming fear, anxiety or physical danger in the home becomes an issue.

On a local level, our community partners have worked hard (and creatively) to find ways to counter COVID-19 fatigue and engage our young residents. A sample of the innovative programming options follow:

• West Chicago Public Library presents Pajama Story-time on Zoom, Home for the Holidays Teen Crafts and Cooking Demonstrations, and so much more.

• West Chicago Park District offers Miss Tori's Tree Top Learning, live Virtual Dance Classes, and coming soon, a live Virtual Dance Party where dancers will be able to interact with other dancers and dance teachers.

• Healthy West Chicago provides family fun through online Healthy Cooking and Baking classes.

• West Chicago Community High School's Student Council hosts a free Holiday Lights Drive-thru where kids bring letters to Santa for delivery to the North Pole and a professional DJ and light team manage music and lights.

• West Chicago Community School District 33 has an online art gallery from students at Wegner School.

• The city sponsored a Virtual Scavenger Hunt, Holiday House Decorating Contest (with the park district) and a Frosty 5K to keep the fun going in the absence of the annual Frosty Fest.

I want to remind all parents of young children to take advantage of these programs and others. Check the individual partner websites frequently for updates and new offerings.

We will all continue to find ways that help to keep our youth happy and healthy.