Helping Families Through the Coronavirus Pandemic
Educating Your Children on the Coronavirus
- Make it age appropriate
- Focus on making smart and educated decisions, rather than fear based ones
- Answer their questions honestly
- Try to instill hope
- Remain calm
Links to help:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/parenting/coronavirus-kids-talk.html
Self-Care Ideas for Families
Structure your day
> Keep bedtime routines, daily chores, and weekly activities.
Have family meals
> Great way to keep structure and check in with each other.
Limit media
> Children are great at picking up on emotions from others. During this time when many people are experiencing fear, limiting time on violent media can help.
Exercise
> Riding bikes, scooters, skateboards, running, jumping jacks, and exercising competitions.
Reach out
> Connecting with friends and family through Zoom, FaceTime, or Skype.
Help others
> Help others physically, financially, and/or emotionally.
Practice good sleep hygiene
> Getting a good night’s rest, avoid eating late, and limit screen time around bedtime.
Stay positive and future-focused
> Before you know it, everything will be back to normal. During this time, enjoy the extra time to spend with family and to tackle the projects on the to do list.
Are your children acting out?
This experience is difficult for everyone, even children can experience stress and anxiety from all the sudden changes. The following will share some warning signs that your child might be feeling the effects of the pandemic: [Image Right]
What To Do When Your Child Acts Out
Keep your calm
- If you are shouting and screaming to match your child’s voice levels, it will only escalate the issue.
Allow them time to express their emotions
Try to provide them with the language of their emotions
- “You are feeling very upset right now”
- “You are frustrated right now”
- “You are feeling sad”
This will help your child vocalize their emotions in the future instead of having tantrums.
Practice slow deep breaths with them
Keeping Structure While Staying at Home
While everyone’s life has flipping upside down, structure can help all of us, children as well
- Helps with productivity
- Maintains sense of normalcy
- Makes day go by faster
- Ensures that work gets done as well as time for relaxing
Exercise with the kids!
- Exercise is a great way to get blood flowing through the body
- Helps you stay fit and healthy
- Fills up time
- Helps with productivity
- Can be super fun following some kid friendly workouts
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a different type of exercise that helps your mental and emotional health
- Helps aid high anxiety levels
- Keeps kids present
- Connects mind, body, and soul
- Makes you appreciate life
- Can be more physical, such as yoga
Keeping Busy
The next few pictures offer different types of activities to keep the kids busy during quarantine and social distancing:
https://parade.com/1009774/stephanieosmanski/things-to-do-with-kids-during-coronavirus-quarantine/
http://www.supercoloring.com/coloring-pages/arts-culture/mandala
At Home Date Ideas for Couples
Examples of date ideas for couples include:
- Exercising together
- Homemade/take-out candlelit dinner
- Watch a concert/movie/Broadway show together
- Spa treatments
- Scavenger hunt
- Game night
- Chocolate fondue
- Art/craft date
- Start a garden
- Puzzles
- Karaoke
https://psiloveyou.xyz/10-date-night-ideas-when-youre-stuck-in-quarantine-283105d205db
https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/date-ideas-for-coronavirus-quarantine/
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/relationships/g31789628/quarantine-date-ideas/
https://1037kissfm.radio.com/blogs/jmatt/10-date-ideas-during-your-isolation-making-quarantine-fun
Are You or Someone You Know Unsafe?
The virus is not the only unsafe thing out there. Many people are now quarantined with their abusers. Emotions, stress, and anxiety are heightened due to the virus, which might lead to higher levels of domestic violence, intimate partner violence, child abuse, etc.
National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
https://www.thehotline.org/help/
Florida Department of Children and Families Abuse Hotline 1-800-962-2873
https://www.myflfamilies.com/service-programs/abuse-hotline/
What to do if domestic violence occurs during coronavirus shutdown
As cities around the world go on lockdown, victims of domestic violence look for a way out
https://time.com/5803887/coronavirus-domestic-violence-victims/
Assistance
You are not alone during this pandemic. Lots of people are feeling the impacts of the virus, not only physically, but emotionally and mentally as well. If you are struggling, we are here to help you and your family get through this.
Call us today at 561-503-3059 or email marriagefamilyservices@comcast.net to schedule a teletherapy sessions with one of our amazing therapists.
We accept almost all types of insurance!
We hope that everyone is staying safe, healthy, and happy!
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