Daily Routine in Wartime
Information center and how to establish a daily routine in wartime
Information center and how to establish a daily routine in wartime
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Hospital Elective Activities
All the information about the hospitals that have renewed their elective (non-urgent) activities. -
Family Care Centers
Due to the emergency, Tipat Halav clinics provide local and accessible services throughout Israel for anyone who is away from home. For further information, call the Ministry of Health's Hotline… -
Self-Care to Be Able to Help Others
During emergencues, parents have a twofold challenge: function and cope with the situation themselves, so they can support and communicate the situation to their children. This way you can take… -
Healthy Nutrition in Emergency
Healthy nutrition is important and helps reinforcing our physical and mental resilience. We have gathered here all the information, hotlines and phone numbers on the subject of nutritional counseling and… -
Keeping Children and Adults Busy
Keeping busy and active during crisis times carries therapeutic powers. It helps self-regulation of powerful emotions, relieve tensions and maintain resilience. We have gathered here some examples for suitable activities. -
Screens in Wartime
Everything you need to know about screen time, both during emergency situations and in general. Pros, cons and what is the recommended screen time for every age group. -
Child and Teenager Online Safety
Especially during war and emergency situations, like the one that we are currently experiencing, the internet provides us with escapism and pleasure, but it may also present us with challenges… -
Information Security and Cyber Security
Alongside physical attacks, the State of Israel is also currently facing many cyber threats against citizens, organizations and companies. -
Staying Home with the Children
Prolonged stay at home with the children may increase both our stress and our children's. Important guidelines for prolonged stay at home and for relieving children's stress and trauma. -
Leaving Children Home Alone
According to law, you can leave children alone at home from the age of 6, but it is recommended not to leave them alone before the age of 9, as… -
Helping Children Understand Tragic Events
A couple of tips that will help you if you need to talk to your children about difficult subjects. -
Parents in Active Military Service
How you can help your children cope with the recruitment of a parent to military service. It is important to remember that recruitment causes pressure but it also provides an… -
Pregnancy and Labor During Wartime
At times of emergency, such as war, we are exposed to stressful situations that affect the health of the mother and the fetus. It is crucial to follow the pregnancy… -
To Breastfeed is to Provide Resilience
Especially during emergency and crisis situations, breastfeeding was found to be especially healthy both for the breastfeeding mother and the nursing baby. All information about breastfeeding during stressful and emergency… -
Traumatic Stress While Pregnant or Breastfeeding
All the information for women who are coping with stress and trauma while they are pregnant or breastfeeding. Tips for coping with stress, emotional support hotlines and more. -
Older Adults in Wartime
During war situations, when everyone's level of anxiety is on the rise, it is even more elevated in older adults. All the information about making accommodations to their home environment… -
Substance Abuse
Stressful and emergency situation may increase abuse of such substances as drugs and alcohol. You should avoid abusing these substances to avoid addiction and you should seek professional help or…
Screens in Wartime
Screens are anywhere and anytime these days. Most of us are exposed to advanced means of communications that include computer screens, television, smart phones, Tablets, and other means of communications. They have many advantages these days: they allow us to keep up to date on what is happening in Israel and around the world, they tell us how to behave during emergencies and they help us communicate with the people we love.
Even though these are times that it is important to us to stay up to date all the time, we should remember that too much screen time can be harmful to us, especially to our children. Excessive screen time may have adverse and harmful effects on children in various areas, such as obesity, eating habits, headaches and back aches, poor vision and eye conditions, sleeping disorders, motor development and mobility skills, cognitive development (learning skills, language and mathematics), attention and deficit disorders (ADHD), social development, emotional development (depression and anxiety) and more.
During wartime, there is an additional adverse effect, namely the exposure to disturbing or age-inappropriate content. It is best that you do not allow your children to be exposed to images circulating on social media and on the news, about the horrors of the massacre, the abducted and the ravages of war. The moment one is exposed to these images, it is difficult to forget them, and it may increase children's distress, especially during times when it is most important to project security to them and to nurture their personal resilience.
What can we do?
- Try to restrict your children's exposure to news coverage and to content related to the war situation. It is preferable that you do not turn on the TV in the presence of children of all ages, even when the sound is off. You should also avoid watching videos on the smart phone when they are around.
- Keep up with the news away from your children. On the one hand, children (even toddlers) hear everything, even if they seem preoccupied with something else or out of earshot, and that's why it is important to censor for them. On the other hand, they do not understand everything, which increases their anxiety levels.
- If the children are exposed to war-related contents, it is important to communicate the information to them and let them talk about what they have seen or heard.
Children's ages and screen time
Regardless of the situation, it is important to restrict children's screen times (television, computer, game consoles, mobile phones). The younger the children, the less screen time they should have.
- Newborns and children under two years old: it is preferable that you do not allow for any screen time, but encourage the people to be as active as possible, whether it is playing with toys, playing outside, talking to them or engaging in other social activities.
- Children two years to five years old: screen time should not exceed more than one hour in total per day.
- Five years and older: while it is most important to restrict the screen time of children under five, you should also restrict the screen time of children aged five and older, especially during stressful times as those in which we are currently.
We understand, it is difficult to keep the children occupied during times when there are no schools, or when schools operate in partial capacity, and the easiest and simplest way is to seat them in front of a screen. We should designate certain times as "no screens time", such as during mealtimes and before bedtime. It is important that we are able to eat without distractions, enjoy some quality family time, relax from our daily experiences and reach our bedtime when we are calmer. Try to offer other activities to your children like playing a game on their own (away from screens), story time, taking a walk outside or going to the playground, doing house chores, preparing a family dinner and more. If you have no other choice other than to seat your children in front of a screen, select calm and reassuring contents for them.
How to keep children busy at home