Parenting Survival Guide for Covid19–10 Pro Tips How to Survive with Your Hero Cape Still Intact

9 min readApr 8, 2020

#QuarantineLife -Resources & Solutions for Parents — Social Distance survival with your Hero Cape

Photo by Mateus Campos Felipe on Unsplash

Being seen as a parent who had it all together can seem like a distant memory. But not to fear there are resources, solutions, and tools to help you get your Cape back.

Of course, not everyone feels like this, but a lot of times kids see us as a hero, but there has to be a time when you felt proud of something difficult or challenging you pulled off well.

One of the best ways to be there for your kids is to give yourself a full 60 seconds to connect with how good that felt. Take time and remember the circumstances, the challenge you overcame, the smile on your face especially if this was reflected back to you from someone else, this is critical, and we’ll circle back to this in a minute.

Parenting is hard no matter how you slice it, but now what can you do when you can’t really get a break? You’ve not taken on roles you never expected, educator, cook, pet caregiver, entertainment provider, IT, plus emotional support for questions regarding a world we never wanted kids to face.

Consistency with structure and scheduling is key to connecting with the old norm and the new norm. A sense of security naturally follows even if there is an adjustment period, this helps kids with behavior and the ability to balance emotions when things don’t feel right.

Well, we are dealing with being the grown-up and taking on of so many different roles now it’s even more important for kids that we put ourselves in their shoes for a minute. Suddenly they are out of school with other friends, unable to be in sports or other activities, have no face-to-face connection with peers. This can be emotionally challenging for anyone but especially for kids.

I’ve worked with kids personally and professionally for many years here are some of the solutions that I found helpful. Aside from day to day structure and routine having a resource list of solutions you can refer to is valuable.

1 Talk to them — tell them what’s going on, this is an ongoing conversation I’m sure you’ve started, but as time goes on it’s important to revisit this from time to time. The challenge is maintaining a sense of control so that this doesn’t dominate the conversation and the overall feeling of your home.

2An Easy Way to be there for them Emotionally. Providing outlets for them to express themselves. This shows your support aside from listening and talking, sometimes kids don’t want to. Or they simply don’t have the words that they need to express exactly how they’re feeling.

Some kids are great with journaling and writing down how they feel others are more inclined to drawing, creating kinetically like with play dough, or even storytelling. Especially if they’re old enough to express in a story or even an app on their device for story creation, encourage them to share how they are feeling with you in a story but I know it’s OK to feel sad especially if they know of someone who is sick or has passed. You don’t need to have all the answers but proving an outlet can be extraordinarily helpful.

Creative solutions like this as you know our great ways to help them deal with their feelings. They can express how they feel and what’s going on anyway that feel safe. See below for additional resources to help your kids manage how their feeling emotionally.

3. Empower Them to Lead or be in Charge of Something. We know it’s important to be active but if you have several kids empowering each one with a certain activity or responsibility that they have control over or leadership and gives them a sense of ownership and eagerness to participate in whatever the activity is.

For example, once a week each kid chooses a meal that day helps create and clean up after. If they work with their siblings on this and each one gets to be in charge for a night They have a semblance of responsibility in leadership.

4. Creative Fun Activities, do a camp out party, set up a fort or tent for movie night in the living room or TV room they could even do a themed movie and everything set up like the theme, for example, Star Wars and all of the kids have their own lightsaber and outfits. Reaching out to other kids in her class or sports and have them do the same and share on FaceTime, zoom or another platform. It’s easy to be focused on our own survival but reaching out helps us have a semblance of normalcy in connecting while staying socially distant.

5. Acts of Kindness are great ways to connect to the outside world. A great idea that I heard was of a family drawing hearts on the sidewalk in front of neighbors and friends’ homes, leaving a happy or encouraging message.

Other families decorated the family vehicle and drove to a friend’s house who has a birthday with balloons and signs to celebrate the birthday kid.

One more fun idea — Or have a dance party where the kids choose a happy song and walk from one neighbor’s house to another neighbor’s house dancing to their favorite song an energetic dance song it ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams.

The biggest challenge is being a support for the kids including the summons of some sort of normalcy when it feels like the world got turned upside down.

6. Get in touch with nature explore the backyard.

Camp out — as the weather gets warmer spending time outdoors will become more appealing

Take Photos — find 3 things that fascinate them, an animal, an insect a bird or even a plant and have them do a few different images with different lighting.

Plant a Garden — having something kids can interact with and have even some responsibility for in nature is very therapeutic. Especially if they grow something they can make a meal with later like planting corn, Kids often love corn, or fruit like strawberries is fun to watch grow and to eat.

7. Entertainment — Follow what favorite athlete, actor, hobby hero is doing now to stay connected. Write a letter to them. They are well connected on social media, a discussion may get lost in the mix. A handwritten letter would truly stand out.

8. Connect with Someone who was a shut-in even before this, perhaps an older family member or even a member of your local church. Sending letters or even face time can bring a sense of joy and connection to both kids and the elderly. Storytime or even sing along time is a true way to remain socially distant and still socially connect

9. Say Thank you to someone in your community, who is continually exposed to the virus, Grocery Store workers, 1st responders, Delivery Drivers

10. Encourage Curiosity and Exploration — Connect to Museums to discover and explore programs they’re offering. In Chicago, we have a lot of museums 5 of the largest covering topics like Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium, Science and Industry, Art Institute, and History (Field Museum) — kids love dinosaurs.

Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash

You are so Valuable, I venture that Parents don’t hear that enough. It’s very important to be there for your kids but it’s equally important to be there for yourself too. A way to balance this is hard but resources are essential for you too. Now, the best way that you can show up for your kids emotionally physically and mentally is to take some time for yourself to connect to things that have a date meaning to you as well.

1. Exercise — do something fun and that you can look forward to, dance, go for a bike ride, take a Zoom or Youtube class, but make sure it’s an activity that you can work up a sweat so that you can release endorphins

2. Connect or Re-connect to creative outlets like journaling, photography, music, creativity is critical to mental health and balance.

3. Social Support — Connect with your friend’s people you can talk to you and be yourself with. Even though it can be a challenge Carving out time for your own phone calls, zoom parties, Facebook groups, these are vital to your own survival during this time.

4. Get Sleep — this can feel like a challenge but it’s essential for maintaining your health all around. If you’re having trouble check out a meditation app to help you fall asleep and feel peace

6 Connect with Influencers who have similarities to your family. Here are the top-ranked of 2019

7. Connect with non-profits in your community find out what kind of support they are providing to help you. Perhaps your local church or local parenting support group.

These tips are where you get the energy to fully thrive and be yourself, to be the best super version of yourself, and feel fully confident cape securely in place, confident in your place as a superhero for your kids.

Bonus Here are two more fun things to do with Kids -

Learning to Cook can be lots of fun

Cooking Classes for Kids — Rachel vs. Guy cook-off for kids

Food Network — Kids Baking Championship

Master Chef Junior — Making Breakfast

Stories are a great way to use your imagination and be inspired.

Story Time — Here is a list of celebrities reading stories for kids, like Elijah Wood (Harry Potter), Betty White, Marisa Tomei, Nick Cannon & John Krasinski, here are even more with Stories Online

PLUS Here are the Additional Resources: Emotional Support

The Power of Mindfulness — How a meditation practice can help kids (and parents) feel less anxious and more relaxed.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Resources. Collection of resources curated by the National Association of School Nurses, including Teaching Students and Families During COVID-19, Guidance for School Principals & Superintendents, and Talking to Children About COVID-19: A Parent Resource in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Amharic.

Health Crisis Resources from the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). This microsite contains numerous resources for various audiences navigating the COVID-19 virus — including special guides for school administrators, crisis response teams, mental health professionals, and parents.

Parenting with Resilience in Unsettling Times. Advice for how parents can manage their own worries and fears, assess what we can and cannot control, and how to talk with our children during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Dr. Dan Peters, Psychology Today, March 16, 2020)

Resources for Supporting Children’s Emotional Well-being During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Guidance, recommendations, and resources provided by child trauma experts at Child Trends and the Child Trauma Training Center at the University of Massachusetts.