Face masks are now the new norm across the globe since the COVID-19 pandemic has hit. Surgical or medical masks are recommended by the government to wear in hopes to prevent the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. This is even more eminent in Singapore, where our government enforces this law.
Now, everyone going out must wear their masks and cover their faces in public, it becomes much more difficult to read facial expressions or to see if they are smiling or frowning. Although this may not pose a difficulty for adults, young children search for emotional cues from facial expressions to interpret a situation correctly. As such, children rely on their caretaker’s facial expressions as well as their tone of voice to determine the situation and how to act towards it.
So, it brings us to the overarching question of how we can help children read emotions behind the face masks. To address this question, to help children feel at ease in an expressionless world during the COVID-19 pandemic, we can play a few games or strategies to help them understand that a face with many expressions is still behind the mask.
The first example, at home, in a comfortable setting, introduces the face mask to your children. Trying new things in the comfort and safety of your family is a great opportunity for children to adapt to the new expressionless norm.
The second example could be that while you are talking and smiling you can cover your face. You can do this several times and explain to your children that although you are covering your face you are still smiling behind it although your face is not visible.
The third example can be to ask your child to watch your eyes and eyebrows. As it is scientifically proven that eyebrows and eyes can show distinctive emotional signals. By asking your child to do so, you are letting him or her get accustomed to trying to read emotions through other features instead of just the face as a whole and if they are unable to understand the emotion you can reveal your face and show how the expression in your eyes and eyebrows matches your mouth underneath the mask.
As such, in the new norm of the COVID-19 pandemic, we as Singaporeans all must do our part to cover our faces to prevent further outbreak of this contagious virus. However, it is also essential and vital to help young children interpret the faces behind the masks and support their emotional and psychological development.
References
Katz, R., & Hadani, H. S. (2020, April 21). Are you happy or sad? How wearing face masks can impact children's ability to read emotions. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2020/04/21/are-you-happy-or-sad-how-wearing-face-masks-can-impact-childrens-ability-to-read-emotions/
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