Volume 10, Issue 20: Helping Kids Navigate COVID-19

It easy to ignore the needs of our children during this pandemic as we align ourselves with the changes we are having to make for our work and home lives. But we are not the only ones who need to find our bearing in COVID-19, our kids need to find their bearing too, and adjust to the new normal.

Let's not forget that our children have been used to a weekly schedule - with us at work and them at school, or daycare or at home with the nanny. Now everyone is home and everyday looks the same. Depending on where you live, some of our kids can't go out to play with their friends. Therefore their options for indulgence have shrunk quite a bit.

Help your children cope with the social distancing, quarantine and lockdown. Kids are used to being up and about. But with these restrictions, if left to their own devises they are likely to be glued to a screen all day. Structure provides kids with the boundaries they need to thrive. Hook up your children with a quarantine/lockdown program for wholesome living.

If your kids are anything like mine, they can spend day and night glued to a screen and sleep in most of the day if they can't go out to play. You will agree with me that this doesn't work well for family life. We not only want to interact with them during our waking hours, we want them to spend their time wholesomely. Going by what your kids like, as well as the skills you want them to learn or improve, prepare a robust weekly program for them to give them a structured space to operate.

My kids' daily lockdown program gives them freedom to do whatever they please as long as they spend an hour on personal Bible study, an hour on reading a book and 30-60 minutes exercising. They also take turns preparing lunches and dinners, washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen flour after meals. They are also spending a few minutes cleaning their bathrooms and ironing their clothes.

We are having them wake up by 10am, to be off hand gadgets by 5pm and to switch off the TV by 9pm. We also had to specify the time by which each activity has to be completed to ensure they are done before evening. This way, we get to see them and do life with them, while instituting wholesome living into their days.

Regardless of your children's ages, it's likely that the social distancing, quarantine and lockdown is having an impact on them. Almost overnight, all their daily routines that they relied on for stability changed. One of the best things that we can do for them right now is to establish a new normal. I encourage you to figure out what that is and put it in place for your children.

Use this time to develop new skills in your children and improve what they already know, as well as strengthen their sense of responsibility. Some of the things my kids are doing now like ironing their clothes is a new task that they did not have to do before. I am thrilled that my ten year old son is getting comfortable with fixing simple meals by himself. Let's make the most of COVID-19. We can never go wrong with grabbing every opportunity to develop life skills in our children.

For His Glory,

Lillian Chebosi