How To Maintain Positivity In Your Children During Self-Isolation

If you have heard that the rules around mobile phones and electronic devices in early childhood settings have changed, you are right. If your child attends a childcare centre in NSW, these changes are already in effect.

Here is a plain-English breakdown of what changed, why it happened, and what it means for your family.

Why Did the Laws Change?

The changes were introduced as a child safety measure. In 2025, Australia’s Education Ministers agreed to amend the Education and Care Services National Law to address concerns about the potential for personal devices to be used to capture, store, or transmit images of children in care without authorisation.

The intent is straightforward: children in early learning settings deserve an environment where their privacy and safety are actively protected.

What Changed Nationally

From 27 February 2026, amendments to the national Education and Care Services National Law took effect across Australia. Under these changes, educators and staff who work directly with children are restricted from using personal electronic devices in care settings.

Before this, from 1 September 2025, all early childhood education and care services nationwide were required to have written policies in place addressing the use of digital devices.

What Changed in NSW

NSW moved ahead of the national timeline. The Education and Care Services (Supply, Authorisation and Use of Devices) Order 2025 took effect on 6 November 2025, applying across NSW’s 6,000 or more early learning services, including long day care centres, preschools, and family day care.

Under this order, educators and staff must use service-issued or service-authorised devices rather than their own personal devices when working directly with children.

What Counts as a Personal Device?

The definition is broad. A personal device is any device owned by an individual (not the approved provider) that is capable of capturing, storing, or transmitting an image. This includes:

Mobile phones
Smartwatches
Cameras and tablets
iPads and laptops
Hard drives, USB drives, and memory cards
Wearables such as camera glasses

Who Does the Ban Apply To?

The restrictions apply to anyone working directly with children at a service, including permanent and casual educators, students on placement, volunteers, contractors, and allied health professionals delivering programs on-site.

Parents, carers, and other visitors are not covered by the ban. In NSW, parents and carers remain free to use their personal devices during drop-off, pick-up, centre visits, and events involving their own children. There are also authorised exceptions for essential purposes, including emergencies and health or disability support needs.

What About Screen Time for Children?

These new laws specifically address staff device use, not children’s screen time. Screen time limits for young children are not mandated within childcare regulation at a national level.

The relevant guidance comes from the federal Department of Health and Aged Care’s 24-Hour Movement Guidelines, which recommend no screen time for children under 2 years, and no more than 1 hour per day for children aged 2 to 5 years. These are health guidelines, not regulatory requirements.

What This Means for Your Family

If your child attends a childcare centre in NSW, their service is already required to operate under these rules. Any educator or staff member working directly with your child should not be using a personal device to take photos or videos. Only service-authorised devices should be used for that purpose.

If you have questions about how your centre handles digital devices or image capture, you are well within your rights to ask. Most services will have a written policy in place that covers exactly this.

At Clovel, the safety and wellbeing of every child in our care is at the heart of everything we do. If you would like to know more about how we support your child across our centres, we would love to have that conversation with you.

Children begin to perceive changes in their immediate surroundings as soon as they come into this world. And by the time they get to preschool, they will have developed high levels of perceptions. As parents, we try to shield our children from unpleasantness and ugliness in this world.

But most people will have realised that it’s almost impossible to keep their pre-schoolers in the dark about the COVID-19 situation. We also believe that this is something parents shouldn’t try either. While you need to help children get through self-isolation, there are other ways of doing things rather than keeping them in the dark. That will only pique their curiosity and probably even make them more anxious.

The Effects of Stress on Pre-schoolers

Toddlers show their stress and anxiousness very differently than adults, and likely the signs will not be very evident either. Anxiety in young children can manifest in different ways. If they see you watching pandemic-related news all the time or hear you speaking in hushed tones about the crises and your work or finance-related concerns, it can have a significant impact on their psyche.

You may see them becoming irritable very often or find that they throw a lot of tantrums, are obstinate about what they want or don’t want. Sometimes the stress and anxiousness can also affect their sleep, appetite and overall health. Here are some simple ways to maintain positivity in your children during self-isolation and all the other impacts that come with it.

1. Make Sure That the Information You Provide Is Age-Appropriate

As mentioned earlier, you shouldn’t attempt to hide facts about the pandemic from them. But you need to be cautious about the reports or news you share with them. Make sure that the information you provide them is age-appropriate.

The facts that you provide should be filtered, simplified and what you tell them about the pandemic and self-isolation needs to be a watered-down version of the actual situation. While the fear aspect isn’t as strong in children as it is in adults, too much talk about the pandemic can affect them severely and will overwhelm them. Provide facts that will help them to avoid misconceptions or confusion.

2. Tell Them Why Self-Isolation Is Important, Without Alarming Them

Explain to them how self-isolation is one of the best ways to keep them and the rest of the family safe. You can tell them this in a way they can understand it. Children have an elementary idea of what’s good and what’s bad and what can harm them.

You need to work on that understanding and tell them about the pandemic, its effects without alarming them in any way. It’s best to say to them that till the danger recedes, the safest place is home. Tell them that self-isolation is a way to fight the virus and keep everyone healthy.

There is a fundamental reason why you need to handle this situation delicately. You do not want your child to become phobic about the COVID-19 situation. Once this worrying situation blows over, and it’s time for them to start attending preschool again, you don’t want them to be reluctant or anxious about doing so. If they harbour excessive fears about the pandemic, you may find yourself in a tight spot when trying to get them back to attending school.

3. Maintain Positivity

As adults, we have our worries, stresses and concerns, all of which are valid. But we can handle these better than children in most cases. Young children tend to feel anxious and helpless about the changes in routine and the self-isolation measures that have been imposed on them. After all, their life is all about playing with friends, going to school every day, or the park etc.

Since they are now unable to do all these things and are restricted to staying and playing in their home that can cause distress, and you must help them stay positive. You can do this by making them feel like they are brave soldiers that are fighting a battle, instead of someone who is under threat. For example, during self-isolation, instead of saying “We can’t go to the park” say “We will beat the virus if we stay indoors”.

4. Involve Them in Household Chores

As a parent, you are under the constant stress of making sure your family is protected against the pandemic while maintaining a work-life balance during this crisis. Many people are now working from home, and meeting professional commitments amidst handling multiple family chores can be tough, especially for extended periods.

If you have older children, you can assign some basic household chores to them like clearing up their rooms, putting their toys away, making their beds etc. Younger children can also do their bit; have them help the older child or you when you are working around the house. These chores also help them expand all that pent-up energy and keep them physically active, which doesn’t make staying indoors seem all that bad.

5. Stay Calm and Be Reassuring

Always reassure your children; do not disrupt their routine as this will help them feel more in control about the situation. Your children keenly observe and absorb the way you respond to the changing landscape. So you need to be a role model; stay calm and steady in turmoil to ensure they stay that way as well. While the pandemic situation has disrupted our lives in more ways than one, how we help our children through it is entirely in our hands.

We at Clovel Childcare and Early Learning Centre, provide a very nurturing environment for children to learn and grow. For any information about our Educational Programs, give us a call at 02 9199 0294 or fill in this contact us form

Thanks for reading,
Clovel Childcare
1300 863 986

Lyn Connolly

Founder and Company Director

Lyn Connolly is the Founder and Company Director of Clovel Childcare & Early Learning Centres, a family‑owned group of eight centres across Western Sydney established from her first service at Merrylands. Active in early childhood education since 1977, she also serves as President of the Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) NSW, representing providers in state and federal consultations, media, and public hearings.

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