PANDEMIC PARENTING - MAKING THINGS SAFE FOR KIDS AND TOP TIPS FOR HOME SCHOOLING
It’s fair to say most parents knew they’d have to take care of their children’s education, but few understood that someday that would mean as their actual teachers. Home schooling is for many one of the most challenging aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The dynamic between parent and child is vastly different than that between teacher and student and the blurred lines have made for many tantrums and tears – and that’s just the parents.
Let’s not mention the fact that for many, home schooling is also being undertaken alongside a full-time job, that is now being conducted at home, on top of the normal obligations of running a household. The structure we once had where clear boundaries were in place between work, school and home is a distant memory. For those of you struggling to keep it together, there are a few strategies that can be put in place to make things easier and reduce the toll on everyone involved.
Routines make a difference
The most important thing you can do for everyone is establish a routine and stick to it. Being at home all the time presents the risk of treating every day like the weekend so try to maintain some structure through the week to avoid this. Set an alarm, get everyone up, dressed and fed and maybe enjoy a little outside time before the workday begins. The earlier you get the day started the quicker you can all finish up and decompress, so don’t be afraid to set your own school bell at a time that best suits your family. Children respond better to routine, and it will also help you to have targets to reach throughout the day such as break times, nap times, outside time and so on. Making those the same time every day also helps form patterns of behaviour and keep expectations in check. Importantly, that level of routine will also secure blocks of time for parents to focus on the work they need to get done.
Unite and conquer
Everyone’s home environment is different but creating a communal workspace where work and study are happening simultaneously fosters a sense of productivity. Sure, there’ll be distractions, but children left to toil away alone can easily lose focus and suffer mentally from feelings of frustration and failure. Break away into a more private space for video and phone calls of course and be sure to respect everyone’s need for quiet in the workspace – if a parent needs to spend time with a child one on one, this could be done elsewhere to retain the productivity of everyone else and to give the child a sense of being prioritised too.
In addition to uniting in the work that needs to be done, there should be unity in the achievement at the end of day too. Try to sprinkle some unusual activities that reward everyone into the usual evening routine. Finishing early one day makes extra time to prepare food together – homemade pizzas, packet cake mixes, kid friendly salads. Agreeing on a fun family lockdown project is also a useful way to unite everyone and create a sense of purpose and achievement – jigsaw puzzles, compiling family photo books, planting and caring for seedlings or a vegie patch or all great ways to do something and be rewarded with positive results.
Child proofing your home for a safe lockdown
There’s a whole new level of domestic geography to navigate when you spend more time in your house than usual – especially with tiny people thrown into the mix. Previously ignored cupboards become enticing and boredom has the potential to drive a curious toddler’s mind to be even more curious than before. This can make life even more challenging when you are juggling a multitude of tasks in the house that are normally conducted outside – like work, school and leisure time.
Here’s our list of top tips to keep everyone safe and sound in lockdown.
1. Anticipate curious crawling routes - If you’ve been blessed with a pandemic baby, they’ll start to move around in the coming months to explore their surroundings. This is often the lounge room floor so be wary of long curtains blowing gently in the breeze; they’re like nectar is to bees for a baby. Either tie back or take down curtains and cords that can be reached. Put hooks into the wall at chest height for drawstrings to be attached to and secure chains for blinds firmly to the wall so they don’t hang freely and present a strangulation risk.
2. Remove hazards from walkways - With less opportunity to get out of the house for long periods, combined with fatigue and lockdown motivated spring cleaning, it’s easy for walkways to get cluttered. Try to curtail piles of shoes, jackets, bags, and toys and relocate things to be dropped off somewhere else, endless bags of old clothes, books, and toys to be donated and broken materials to be saved for hard rubbish to the garage, the porch or even the car to keep the house clear and uncluttered.
3. Designate workspaces where possible - With workspaces now overtaking living spaces there are a multitude of cords where there once were none. Everyone will set up a workspace where most practical for working, but this will often be less practical when children are thrown into the mix. Make sure power cords to laptops, lamps and phones are not draped across walkways – order some power boards and extension cords that you can tape to the floor to keep everything flat and impossible to trip on. If you have a small baby in discovery mode, it may be worth putting yourself and your workspace in a play pen rather than them.
4. Put all the dangerous stuff out of reach - With a plethora of lockdown projects being dusted off or launched, there is an increased risk for hazardous materials to be left unattended or in harm’s way. Make a habit of designating time to work on projects and setting everything up then putting it all away each time. There may be materials not normally in your home that become infinitely fascinating to tiny hands and mouths. Secure these as you would normally do with your cleaning products, washing powders, dish-washing liquids, paints and general deathly poisons to a safe location.
Everything you need to buy to child proof your home can be found at your local hardware or department store and if not there, you can have a look online.