We don't know what the next few weeks will bring.
What we do know is that parents will be with their children for most of their waking hours.
Parents must find ways to keep them busy.
While it's great to spend time with our families, we're not used to this much day-in and day-out togetherness!
During this unknown time, I recommend the following survival tips:
1) As a family, create a new routine for weekdays.
Make a list of HAVE TO DO’s and WANT TO DO’s.
Designate specific activities to specific times of the day.
"HAVE TO DO's" can include:
learning activities (from teachers, or activities found online)
sleep
meals
exercise
down time
designated reading
"WANT TO DO's" can include:
video games
game night
movie night
online hangouts
crafts
puzzles
food prep
social media
movie making
2) Be flexible with your new routines.
While it’s important to set up a new routine for your family, flexibility is important now more than ever.
Work to keep a routine in your family, but go with the flow if things get off track. Try again the next day.
Teenagers need a sense of autonomy in their day in order to get motivated, so let them make choices about what to do, and how/when they'll do it. Give little kids a feeling of autonomy by offering them choices about their activities too.
Set aside screen time rules in your household for a while.
Everyone feels better with routine in their day. It creates a feeling of safety and security. With predictable days, kids’ behaviour is better, and parents can get their work done more easily.
With routines, there's less chaos in the house. Without them, your kids may act up, have emotional outbursts, fight with siblings, and teens may be resistant.
3) Be kind to yourselves, and each other.
Parents: you’re not school teachers and mustn’t put pressure on yourselves to teach the curriculum during school closures. The kids are going to be fine. This break from school won’t ruin your child’s academic success. Support learning as much as you can, but give yourself a break.
Kill time with your kids doing activities you can't normally get around to: organize the house, create family photo albums, prepare your garden, or learn new skills.
Don't hesitate to contact us for support during the school closure! Take care and stay healthy.
Enjoy this chance to be with your family.
ps.
When your kids are done with assigned school work, here are some sources for engaging learning activities, and this is just a start (find more online, by typing in some keywords!):
