Parenting During Coronavirus Chaos
The changes to daily life we are all experiencing during coronavirus containment can feel pretty extreme for the whole family – parents and children. The kids don’t have school or their regular activities, there are no sports, you might not have daycare, and now, many of you are trying to work from home.
It’s a lot.
Here are a few suggestions for navigating this stay-at-home time, where the constant togetherness coupled with increased anxiety can test the best of us:
1) Try to maintain daily schedule and routine. Rather than sleep late every day, try getting up near your usual time, eating breakfast, and then having children engage in some brain work. You don’t need to try to recreate the classroom, but keeping minds active with reading or math problems is a great idea. Scholastic offers free online learning opportunities for younger children while Khan Academy offers courses for all ages, and can help sharpen your older children’s math skills.
2) Limit screen time. It’s tempting to declare that these are extreme times that call for extreme measures – including letting the kids scroll on screens all day if they want. But doing that can lead to increased anxiety and restlessness. Encourage reading books, doing puzzles, or finding a new activity everyone enjoys.
3) Stay connected. When your family does use technology, remember the ways it can serve us especially well right now. Use video conferencing or FaceTime to connect with grandparents, extended family, and friends.
4) Get some physical activity each day. Whether it’s yoga in the living room, walking the family dog, or playing tag in the back yard, getting bodies moving strengthens immune systems and improves mental outlook.
5) Discover new recipes. Cooking and baking together can be a terrific opportunity to take your mind off the day’s news, bond with your child, and even help teach some math skills. Plus, the phrase “comfort food” was coined for a reason; your favorite dinner or chocolate chip cookies are likely to bring much-needed comfort at this time. Save the calorie-counting for another day.
6) Remember the activities your family enjoys. Maybe it’s board games, turning on the music and dancing in the kitchen, learning new skills like knitting or painting, or maybe you all love a family movie night with popcorn. Participating in activities like this can provide a break amid the stress while fostering a sense of “we’re in this together.”
7) Encourage kids to talk about how they’re feeling. They may be anxious as well. Even little ones know it’s far from normal to not leave the house for weeks on end. As much as this unprecedented time may change life as they know it, what they will likely remember most about it is the way home felt while they were “locked down.” If it feels warm, safe, and comforting, and if you can find reasons to be grateful, to share, and to laugh, they’ll be far less traumatized than if they listen to the news 12 hours a day in between listening to adults panic and curse about the stock market or the impact of COVID-19.
8) Read a book together. Maybe you read aloud with your children, or maybe you read to them. Either way, reading takes us out of our worried minds and delivers us to a distant, different, COVID-19-free world.
There are still a lot of unanswered questions about this time of social distancing and trying to mitigate the harm of the coronavirus. We don’t yet know when it will end, when life might begin to look more normal, or even when it’s okay to have friends over again.
What we can do is focus on the here and now, and how to make this time as pleasant as possible for everyone under our roofs. If that’s proving extra challenging for you, reach out to a close friend or family member, or your therapist. We at Life Counseling Center are offering telehealth therapy at this time. You can learn more about telehealth or schedule a free consultation by calling 208-465-5433 or visiting us online at www.lccidaho.com. You don’t have to do this alone.