Lauren Crowder

You are not alone. I understand first hand as my child whines about wanting to paint when my will is to get her to do her writing assignment. This is not easy. Many of us are juggling the novel demands that come with working from home with being an insta-teacher! As if parenting wasn’t hard enough already?In front of us we have an opportunity to challenge ourselves to shift our focus from overwhelm to celebrating the newfound connections we can be making with our kids. Kids have an attention bucket that needs filling daily. Often we aren’t able to give them as much as they might require and surely they find ways to get it, sometimes even if it means acting out to get negative attention. Right now, we are forced to stay in and just BE with family. Let’s take the opportunity to soak it in and fill those kiddos attention buckets to the top.

Here are some ways to do so (you might even get the added bonus of counting some of it towards school work!):

1)”Play” school (for elementary age): During times you are teaching your kiddo, it might help them to be engaged if they get to play teacher too. Have them set up a pretend classroom of dolls/stuffed animals so that they can teach the “students” what they just learned from you!

2)Get Outside: It is of utmost importance that kids and teens get outside. This is always important for mental and physical well being but it is more important now than ever! Goon a nature walk where you challenge them to find something (blue, soft, taller than them, etc). You can take it a step further and teach them how to take photos or draw what they are seeing.

3) Teach mindfulness. Guide them in noticing what they see, feel, hear, taste. Have them describe it in detail. You can do this while on a nature hike or possibly while eating or preparing food.

4)Get them socializing from afar. Set up a virtual play date for them through zoom or facebook video (with you supervising of course!). They can each play with their toys as if they were doing so together!

5)Have a dance party. Allow them to choose their favorite music and play DJ and dance together as a family. It’s a great way to exercise as well!

6)Do yoga and meditate together. There are many free apps (Insight timer is my favorite) that you can download on your phone. They have guided meditations for kids and adults. There are kids yoga classes on youtube that you can do together. Self care is important for the both of you especially during times of heightened anxiety.

7)Teach them kitchen skills suitable for their age. Even if you aren’t a Martha Stewart in the kitchen, teaching them how to make basic snacks or meals will be fun and a good life skill for them.

8) While more screen time might be inevitable during these times, you can still find ways to make it stimulating. On Netflix you can search for kids educational shows and a bunch pop up for kids of all ages.

9) Do an indoor family scavenger hunt!

10) TALK TO EACH OTHER. Play a feelings game: Put a bunch of emotions in a hat or jar. Take turns picking an emotion out of the jar. You can act the emotion out, talk about a time you felt that emotion, draw the emotion or talk about the best ways to cope with that emotion. Normalize that all emotions are okay and part of being alive. Let them know that we all might be feeling a bit more nervous than usual right now. Time to find ways to cope….. See items #3, 5, and 6!

Written by:Lauren Crowder, LMFT – Therapist – San Antonio location