A summary of all the parenting lockdown advice

I did a talk this week for City Parents. Normally, they’re 30–40 people in a London City office. The lockdown version had 130 people online. 5 mins before it started my internet went down, so I hot-spotted from my phone. Then my phone shutdown from overheating, but my wifi was back up then. Lockdown joys. What can you do?

In prep, I’ve been looking a lot at parenting in lockdown. I wanted to know what the best tips were for parenting in lockdown. I read SO many articles. No Articles by academics, by child psychologists, nursery experts, academic advisors, child development specialists, social workers, autism experts (my son is Aspi), stress and trauma experts. I didn’t find any earth shattering insights, just good common sense. Here’s the summary. I hope it helps.

Hold a routine, set boundaries flexibly.
Routine creates structure, structure creates certainty, certainty avoids stress. Boundaries keep things apart, like working and family, phones do the opposite. Treat them like a work tool, leave them in the workspace.

Make sure your routine has exercise, a bit of learning for them while you work, together time, quiet time for them while you work again, play time, you time. Design it with the kids.
All the things a family needs. How you put them together is up to you. Build the routine together. Adjust it together. That way everyone has skin in the game, gets what they want, has control and certainty.

Be kind to each other.
Ease off. Be kind, especially to yourself. Lower your expectations, especially about how much you’ll get done each day.

Perspective. Remember what really matters.
Use one of my previous questions to put life in perspective. When you remember what really matters, you realise what doesn’t actually matter too.