Expert advice for parents of teens around wearing face masks in public/school/transport

As face mask rules continue to dominate headlines, and parents, teachers and children prepare to return to school with a whole new look, we asked some of our author experts for advice on how to encourage 11+ year old children to wear face masks in public. The authors are all available for further media interview and comment, we can send you copies of their new books, and connect you with them now and in the future if you ever require experts in their fields. Media enquiries tohelenlewis@literallypr.comwww.literallypr.com@literallypr.

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"Parents have a difficult enough time getting their kids to do anything, wearing face masks is just another one to add to the list! Taking into account children with some conditions such as autism, mental health or panic disorders are exempt from wearing masks, how we do mandate mask wearing in our young people? We lead by example, present the facts as we know them, encourage them to discuss their concerns and do their own research."

Suzy Rowland is the founder of the happy in school project (www.happyinschoolproject.com) and author of S.E.N.D. in the Clowns: Essential Autism/ADHD Family Guide, out September 3 2020, Hashtag Press.

"I'm not sure that children will need much encouraging to wear a face mask when they go back to school. I think that most children of this age and upwards, have become used to the situation which has been evolving over the last five months and will probably take it in their stride, more so than we might give them credit for.

Having said that, so much depends on the parent's attitude to what is being proposed. If they have reservations, for whatever reason, their children will pick up on them too. However, if parents are clear in their own minds, that this is a sensible precaution to take, their children shouldn't have any difficulty in happily following their school's guide lines and accept the wearing of a face mask, as all part of the anticipated return to school.

Hopefully schools will have a supply of face masks for children who forget them or whose parent's might have difficulty in providing yet another item for the start of school."

Jane Teverson has worked as a counsellor for over twenty years. She is the author of the book "Born Beautiful: How Counselling Theory Can Enrich Our Parenting", which will be published by Free Association Books in November. Her initial training was in Person Centred Counselling but, because of an interest in unconscious processes, she gained her accreditation in Psychodynamic Counselling. Both disciplines informed her work.

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