Grade school
- Arrange virtual playdates
- Stay in touch with the teachers
- Figure out what work they can do independently and what work they need help with
- Make work fun
- If possible, get outside
- Use this time to teach them how to be a helper
- Inform them without overloading them
- Don’t try to mimic the school day
- Food bribery works
- Be gentle on them and yourself, this is tough
When we last spoke, Maya McNeil was 6-almost-7, enjoying going back and forth with the neighbors and anticipating her weekend birthday.
Shortly after that, updated social distancing guidelines ruled out in-person playdates.
“That was particularly hard on her because not everyone nearby was being as stringent as we were and she could still hear others outside,” said Kari Cobham, senior associate director of the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism and Media at The Carter Center.
I checked in with Maya and her mom again recently.
Online school was good, Maya said.
“It’s kinda, like, boring because I don’t get to see my friends,” she said. “I have things to do like play with my toys. I can play on my pad or laptop or play with my brother when he’s not sleeping. I have lots of stuff to do other than play with my friends. Mostly I’m learning.”
Erickson has a third-grader, who asked “if after this year he gets to go to college because of all of this.”
I mean, he has a point.
My third grader, Leela, had this update about mid-pandemic life: “I like it and I don’t like it,” she said.
She likes being home and getting lots of breaks, but “I can’t see my friends or my teachers.”
Here’s some updated school-aged kid advice:
Keep those playdates going.
School-aged kids probably don’t have phones and aren’t on video game platforms that let them talk with friends. So be the playdate matchmaker just like you would in real life.
“You can still do virtual playdates with your child’s friends or family members,” Cobham said. “She does this regularly and it’s a joy. And I don’t need to be around!”
My mom gets a call every day around 2 or 3 and FaceTimes with my daughter and nephew. I’ve also reached out to my daughter’s friends for video chats. They see each other in virtual class, but there’s no time to catch up, and hearing that other kids are in the same situation makes it not seem quite so awful.
Check in with the teachers.
“Reasonable, weekly lesson plans have been great, but we also FaceTime with her teacher twice a week, so they can check in and work together,” Cobham said. “It’s been incredible for the connection and accountability.”
I was upfront early on that 4 p.m. homework deadlines weren’t going to happen in my house, we don’t get to homework until at least 6, and our teachers quickly adjusted for us.
Make work fun.
“Learning comes in many forms,” Cobham said. “She chooses between suggested lessons and we try to engage her in ways that don’t ‘feel’ like work — like drawing the planets, making positive affirmation signs, starting a gratitude jar, getting creative with leftovers, writing a list of questions she’s always wanted answers to and researching one every day, going out in the yard to pick up sticks or to look at how leaves feed trees.”
Figure out what they can do on their own, too, to buy yourself some solid work time.
“The former is especially helpful when our toddler is napping and I need to pack work in during that window,” Cobham said.
It’s OK to turn on the devices.
“You don’t have to fill every minute of the day with educational activities or fun,” Cobham said. “There’s screen time for that.”
“I’ve given up on screen time limits,” Davlin said. “I’m just glad there are quality, educational options for him. I have also bribed him with chocolate to be quiet while I record.”
Also, if you can, get outside.
After the first week, my husband and I gave in and bought a big backyard trampoline. My kids are on it every day, and I head out there after tough stories. We may be stuck with more screen time right now than we’d like, but if you can get outside safely, fresh air and sunlight are good for everyone.
“We go onto the porch or into the yard for fresh air,” Cobham said. “Open a window, watch the rain fall, breathe.”
Be a helper.
“Sheltering-in-place is particularly hard on more vulnerable populations,” Cobham said. “Get your kid involved in helping others, whether it’s writing thank you notes to first responders, supporting the school district as they provide meals, donating delivered meals from local restaurants to medical personnel or setting aside tips for grocery cashiers. The reality is that there’s staggering inequality; don’t hide that. Keep teaching kids how to support others and lay the foundation for helping to build a better system.
They’re old enough to have some understanding of what’s happening, but they’re also sensitive to our moods and reactions. And they have tough days, too.”
Be open in an age-appropriate way.
My kids hear my interviews: layoffs, business closures, deaths. When they’re nearby for those, I try to follow-up with the details that are appropriate for where they are. Remember: what we don’t talk about sends kids messages, too.
Davlin and her husband have struggled with how much to share with their 6-year-old.
“Especially now that I’m broadcasting from home,” she said. “Since I’m doing COVID-19 coverage exclusively for the foreseeable future, we can’t exactly hide it from him. One thing that’s helped: He decided to start his own news program for kids with tips on having fun and staying safe during isolation. He’s done a handful of episodes, and he loves the messages he gets from parents and kids. He has taken over my home studio, and I now have to ask permission to use it for my job.”
You can be open about what we’re all dealing with without overloading them with information, Cobham said.
“Everyone is just doing the best that they can, day by day.”
You don’t have to explain your situation.
“I’ve learned that everyone is in the same boat — if I’m not starting an interview by saying, ‘Oh, you may hear my kid complaining about fractions in the background,’ the interview subject is,” Erickson said. “I also think that in a world where journalists can be subject to a lot of demonization right now, hearing our kids in the background, or even just acknowledging that we’re doing our jobs while trying to teach and locate hand sanitizer and everything else humanizes us with our readers. I’ve had some terrifically candid interviews in the past week or so, because we all have this common ground, this shared experience. Turns out, being terrified and in the weeds when it comes to being in charge of how your child learns is not a liberal or conservative fear — it’s universal and deeply felt.”
"try" - Google News
April 17, 2020 at 08:19PM
https://ift.tt/2RI9Xnh
How to (try to) work from home with kids (in a pandemic) - Poynter
"try" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3b52l6K
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "How to (try to) work from home with kids (in a pandemic) - Poynter"
Post a Comment