Great advice on helping teenagers learn to bear unpleasant feelings and build resilience, rather than pressuring them to “stay positive”:
Author: Thoughtful Parenting
Working from Home
Dr. Corinne Masur
So many parents I talk to are working from home and having trouble making it work.
People who are single parents or whose partners are essential workers are alone most of the time and have no one to trade off with on child care.
Or, if parents do have a partner at home, they’re saying that taking turns taking care of the children is hard– especially when they both need to work at the same time but the children can’t manage on their own.
And infants, toddlers, and young children pay NO attention to any schedule you might have decided on.
So – what to do? Continue reading
Musical Comic Relief
Seriously
Dr. Corinne Masur
Our past few posts have been positive: great podcasts for kids and teens, resources for parents staying at home with their children, that sort of thing.
But today it feels like time to write a different kind of post.
Parents who I “see” (online) in my “office” (house) have been saying things to me like, “I just had to get out of the house so I went to the store to buy some bread” or “I’ve been babysitting for my niece while school is out so I thought it would be alright to have dinner with her parents and a friend of theirs.”
Staying home is hard. For everyone. People who live alone are feeling incredibly isolated; people who live with their families are feeling incredibly suffocated; children are missing their friends; teenagers are crawling out of their skins not being able to hang out with each other. We have never been through anything like this and it’s hard to know what to do or how to handle this.
But…..we have to.
Recently a lecturer in epidemiology at Yale, Jonathan Smith, wrote the following: Continue reading
Great Podcasts for Kids and Teens
For Little Kids:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/parenting/podcasts-for-kids.htmlor Little Kids:
| A Big List of Podcasts for Little Kids – The New York Times
My son’s podcast addiction began when he was 2, with “The Gingerbread Man.” He was hooked at first listen and asked to hear it constantly. Eventually, I could recite the entire story … |
For kids of all ages:
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/the-best-podcasts-for-kids
| The 25 Best Podcasts for Kids | Common Sense Media
Entertaining, informative, and kid-friendly podcasts for bedtime, road trips, and more. Best part? They’re screen-free. Advice from Common Sense Media editors. |
For Teens:
https://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/1134797/best-podcasts-teenagers/
| The Best Podcasts for Teens: 11 Programs They Will Actually Listen To – SheKnows
If you’re stuck at home self-isolating with teens, you may be ready to rip your hair out right about now. Because in between all that Zoom school work, you trying to get your own shit done, and … |
Enforced Togetherness
Dr. Corinne Masur
One of the hardest things about this pandemic, other than the anxiety it creates, is the forced home stay. Couples who aren’t used to spending long stretches of time together are suddenly together 24/7. Parents who have never even considered home schooling are having to do just that. Children who are used to the structure and routine of school are home all day, where the refrigerator is always available and where they can say “NO!” in a way they’d never dare to with their teacher.
Nerves can fray. Anger is coming up between partners, between children and parents, between siblings.
It’s extremely hard: There is literally no way to completely take a break from each other for more than a short time.
How to survive?
Here are a few suggestions. If you have others, please let us know! Continue reading
Article on Working from Home with Kids
“As a full-time remote employee with a baby who’s often home sick with daycare germs, I know from experience that it’s possible to work in a packed house—it’s just going to look different from what you’re used to. Here are some tips to help you adjust:”
https://www.accelerationpartners.com/blog/working-from-home-with-kids-how-to-adjust-to-new-reality
Helpful Links for All of Us
We compiled a list of links for everyone staying home these days, including parents, kids, teens, people working from home, bosses, and just plain people:
For all of us:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/21/opinion/scott-kelly-coronavirus-isolation.html
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Go outside. One of the things I missed most while living in space was being able to go outside and experience nature. After being confined to a small space for months, I actually started to crave …
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https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2020/03/19/coronavirus-social-distancing-covid-19/
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Rich, 52, and his younger twin sisters, Rue and Suzanne Landau, 51, had a plan to make a visit happen. Their father, Mike, 80, suffers from a rare neurological disorder called corticobasal syndrome, a degenerative disease that in his case has left the mind sharp, but sapped his muscles.
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‘What The World Needs Now Is Love’ is the charity single sung by Broadway for Orlando, an all-star group of artists from the theatre and pop world: Sara Bareilles, Idina Menzel, Audra McDonald …
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Everything.Everything is Bullshit -Particle Kid ,Neil Young,Roy Benson, Willie Nelson and sons – Duration: 6:59. Mare Befort / roll _with _mary Recommended for you. New
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For those working from home:
https://www.consumerreports.org/home-office/work-from-home-covid-19-tech-that-will-make-it-easier/
https://insights.dice.com/2020/03/17/7-tips-work-remotely-during-covid-19-crisis/
For Parents:
https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/coronavirus-covid-19-parenting-infant-kids-20200320.html
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That thought experiment became the inspiration for his 2006 novel, The Road, a chilling story of a father and son navigating a world left hollow and grey by some unexplained disaster.They hunt for food, elude cannibals, and cling to a flickering hope that they’ll find a better situation somewhere along the way.
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https://childmind.org/article/supporting-kids-during-the-covid-19-crisis/
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The boy wrote it on page 3 of a black-and-white composition book that had been brought down from the attic. It was only Week One of our nation’s stay-home sequestration owing to the global pandemic known as COVID-19, but my kindergartner already grasped a key element of this extraordinary moment in history.
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https://www.npr.org/2020/03/13/814615866/coronavirus-and-parenting-what-you-need-to-know-now
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-pandemic-covid19-how-parents-kids-can-stay-safe-sane
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/working-parents-school-closures-coronavirus/
For Teens and Parents of Teens
What To Do When School Is Out
Dear Parents,
What a strange new world we are living in! This is a tough time for all of us. There’s the worry about Coronavirus, the questions about how to stay safe, and the reality of school and office closures amongst so many other things.
How do we adapt to these new and ever changing circumstances?
How do we manage the anxiety and the terror within ourselves and within our loved ones – especially our children?
No one likes change, and the changes in our lives right now are just enormous.
We’d like to suggest some ideas for dealing with suddenly having children home from school for those of you who have experienced school closures.
And going forward we’ll be posting about other aspects of life as we try to manage during this Coronavirus epidemic.
Below you will find some resources and ideas for what to do during the time that your children are not able to attend school.
No one way of dealing with this unprecedented situation will work for every family – we must all experiment and see what works for us and for each of our children – but perhaps some of these ideas will be helpful right now. We’ll post new suggestions regularly during the next few months.
- As you have undoubtedly heard, it’s best to stay at home and to forgo play dates or teen hangouts. This will be hard for your children AND for you! Your children will complain. They will be angry. TRY not to take this personally. Try to remember that when you set these limits you are doing the BEST thing for your child – whether they agree or not.
- Everyone needs a break from each other now and then. Everyone needs to be with friends– and in this situation, creativity and patience will be needed to figure out how to meet everyone’s social needs without having direct contact and, quite frankly, just how to stay sane at home!
- Create a schedule. Some children and some adults can handle long stretches of unstructured time, but most cannot. Write on a big piece of paper or poster board what each person’s schedule will be and post in their room. Schedule meal times, snack times, school work times, rest/alone times, exercise times, clean up the house time, reading/story time, computer time, and online friend time.
- Everyone in the house will need special social time. You as parents need time to meet with friends online (have coffee or a drink together!), so schedule a chat though FaceTime or Zoom at least once a day.
- Each child in the house should also have online time to meet with friends, Even small children can do online hangouts with their friends. Children ages 3-6 will need parental supervision in order to stay focussed on talking with their friends, of course. They can also draw and show each other their drawings and other creations. You can talk to their parents while this going on as well.
- Also, schedule daily online chats with family, especially older family members. This will be fun for your children AND good for your older relatives. Have your young children make a drawing or Lego creation or whatever they like to show when they chat with others.
- Make sure everyone pitches in to keep the house clean and organized. Make it fun. Put on the music for a half hour of clean up time once or twice a day and clean all common areas and dance, sing, etc. Or for your teen, let them wear their head phones and listen to whatever they want while they work.
- Start a few projects and make time each day to engage in them. Each child can have a special project they do with a parent and/or there can be a family project. For example:
– Order seeds and start a garden. Even if you don’t have a yard, you can grow some flowers or herbs or veggies in pots. Or if you have a yard, dig up part of it and do a little each day to get it ready, plant the seeds, water them, and watch it grow.
– You will think this is crazy – but – consider getting a new pet. You and your children have time to take care of it, train it, etc. now that you are home. One family profiled on NPR got chickens after school was cancelled for Covid 19 and have been enjoying taking care of them, gathering the eggs, and making things with the fresh eggs.
– Learn something new! Each member of the family can choose their own new thing and practice it each day – a new language, a new instrument, a new art form.
– Cook with the kids. Each day can be a new cooking project. Make bread if your grocery still has yeast (mine does not – I think a LOT of people are baking!) or make muffins, cupcakes, cookies, brownies – or just make lunch or dinner, for that matter. Kids usually like to cook and can start helping as early as 3 or 4.
- See below and take advantage of these online possibilities. Every parent will need a few hours a day to themselves during this time – in ADDITION to any work being done from home. Take time to read something other than the news, do an online exercise or yoga class, learn to meditate or just watch a show. NO guilt!
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With so many school closings related to COVID-19, how do you plan to keep your kids busy? If you’re running out of ideas on how to keep your little ones learning, News5 has you covered. There are …
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From story time with Josh Gad to a virtual art class with Mo Willems, here are a few videos to keep your kids busy during the coronavirus outbreak.
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https://kmox.radio.com/articles/online-kids-activities-for-parents-during-covid-19-pandemic
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Here is a list of online resources for parents, curated by KMOX staffers, offering free educational, creative and physical activities for children home during this pandemic.
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Live Free Concert of Sephardic Music:
Children’s Books to Encourage Kindness
Check out this list of children’s book that encourage kindness toward others (but you can read our thoughts on The Giving Tree here):
Let us know what books they forgot to add in the comments!
Thoughtful Parenting 