If you can’t get outside, have a daily dance party. If you can go outside safely, do that take a daily family walk, for example. Exercise makes all the difference for our physical and mental health. ![]() Inadequate or irregular sleep will make everything worse. Shut off the screens in the evening, stop the video games, and set an alarm clock in the morning. Make sure everyone gets enough sleep - and that they stay on a regular sleep schedule. Bake cookies, play a game, be silly, make messes. All family members should have time set aside to do what makes them happy. On the flip side, if your children are interested in reading great literature, learning a new language, or otherwise gaining extra knowledge and skills during this time, go for it - but don’t force it. If your child is not able to get the work done, and you’ve reached out to the school and tried everything they suggested, cut both of you some slack most of us parents are not trained teachers, and we’ll figure out how to fix it all when this is over. If you have school-age children, make sure they have enough time allotted to get their work done (this will vary from child to child), but don’t feel obligated to make it as long as they would have been in school - or have the hours match school hours (if your children have never been early morning people, why force it now?). Having a daily schedule is important, especially for children, and you should make one and stick to it. Put family self-care first when navigating this tough time We have to take care of ourselves in a different way, being proactive about our mental health. We all need to do our best, sure, but it’s important that we acknowledge that we are feeling strange and bad, that our kids are too, and this can’t help but affect how we all behave. There is no way that we can live this without anxiety and sadness - and no way that our children can live it without anxiety and sadness. Interactions with anyone outside our home became almost entirely virtual or nonexistent. For those who can’t work from home, work either became dangerous or it disappeared, taking income with it. Every trip out of the house became treacherous. School and daycare closed, and our children were home without any structure or activity except what we create or enforce. Let’s review: We were going about our business as usual and suddenly a possibly deadly virus appeared and shut down life as we knew it. ![]() This is bad for the mental health of each and every one of us. As a pediatrician and a parent navigating this pandemic, I worry sometimes that an important point gets lost in the midst of all the helpful posts about things to do with your children in cramped spaces, homeschooling, and other tips for managing the current reality:
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