Our life in the new normal and how as parents we can take care of ourselves.

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We are living a new normal life during this corona-virus pandemic and at present there seems to be no sight of the end of this as the whole world is affected by this. It is a reality we cannot do anything about it but accept it and continue to live our life taking it one day at a time.

It is a very difficult time for everyone but very hard for parents with special needs families. Our kids thrive on consistency and structure which is lost at this time. It is very hard for them to adjust to a change in routine and now it is even more challenging. We have to find ways to keep our kids entertained and to give their day some kind of structure. I am sure we all are doing our best but the main reason I am writing this post today to share some ideas on how we as parents can take care of ourselves so we are in a better position to help our children.

I want to stress how important it is for us as parents to take care of ourselves first so we are in a better position to help our kids as they tend to feed of us like all kids and can sense our anxiety.

Some of the things parents can do now are to stay away from watching the news all day as it can bring panic and worry which is not helpful. It is good to keep up with the news about the pandemic but maybe do it once or twice a day. Most of the parents are working from home now and have other kids too. It is important for us to have some kind of a schedule like or kids with room for some kind of flexibility so it helps us visualize what kind of day we will have. This will help us in reducing our anxiety and better cope with this new normal.

The schools are closed now and maybe will open in the new year. Teachers all across the country are setting up digital online activities for our kids. We are at present all overwhelmed with how to help our kids academically as we are scared of regression which is a reality for our kids. However we cannot create a school day with 6 to 7 hours of schoolwork for our kids. It is not feasible. We need to take it one day at a time and pick a couple of activities each day to work on with our kids. This is something doable for all of us. Make a visual schedule and allow kids some choices on what activities they would love to work on as this will help in reducing power struggles.

Social stories are a great tool to explain to our kids in simple terms what is going on today in our lives as it is very important we do that so they feel secure ad not anxious by seeing everything around us including news.

It is also important we take care of ourselves by engaging in activities we like to do. Read a book, listen to podcasts, watch your favorite shows which will help us to take our mind off the crisis for a short time.

In the next blog post, I will share some videos of my son working on some digital and online resources. We are all in this together and hopefully our lives will return to normal soon. Stay safe till then and take care of you and your family!!

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