Parenting in Pandemic: Caring & Curiosity with Covid-19

During the Covid19 pandemic, I’ve been “sheltering in place,” thinking of ways to be helpful without risking my health or the health of others. I’ve been sharing ideas for pandemic exercise and fun with family members who are home with kids of various ages. It’s time to share them with you, my blog community! This blog begins with links to psychologists’ advice to those who are caring for children, adolescents, and college students. It continues with exercise links and activity links for young and old. This blog ends in nature and silliness ("pandemonium?").

 Radio Times Podcast: Parenting During the Pandemic

Let’s start with some sanity and guidance for parents and guardians, provided by Marti Moss-Coane and guests on WHYY, Philadelphia’s public radio station. This Radio Times broadcast has great advice for “parenting during the pandemic.”

“Families are under an incredible amount of stress right now. They are of course worried about COVID-19 but many parents are also worried about their jobs, about paying the bills, and about putting food on the table. And on top of all that, schools are closed and parents are caring for their kids around the clock and even trying to homeschool them. This hour, we’ll talk with psychologist TINA BRYSON about the strain families are feeling and healthy ways they can try to cope. We’ll also hear from IMANI PERRY, author of Breathe: A Letter to My Sons, about how she’s spending time at home with her two teenagers. But first, we start off looking at how Philadelphia’s school students are doing and how the district is trying to meet their needs. Philadelphia School District Superintendent WILLIAM HITE joins us to talk about the support they are providing their families.”  See details below.

·      https://whyy.org/episodes/families-coping-with-the-coronavirus/

How are school districts dealing?
You may find the initial interview with Dr. James Hite, superintendent of Philly schools interesting. He deals with inequities among neighborhoods, the differing burdens on families, and School District resources.

Advice for Parents, Guardians, Caregivers: Dr. Tina Bryson
At 14:00, find Dr. Tina Bryson’s practical and soothing advice for parents during this challenging time.

·      PODCAST LINK

“We can’t bubble wrap our children:”

Dr. Bryson’s overarching message is to be emotionally present for our children, despite our present concerns about health, finances, and security and despite our personal flaws and limitations.  Remember, she says, “We set the emotional tone for our children….We cannot bubble-wrap our children and protect them from everything, but our job isn’t to fix everything, but to walk with our children through it.”  Don’t over-listen to the news, she suggests, thus making our kids swim in it with us. Instead, we can help them process their emotions by helping them “name it to tame it.”

·      See Tina Bryson’s webpage for more resources. https://www.tinabryson.com/#home-page

Dr. Imani Perry: What is our “mutual destiny?”
Introduced at 32 minutes into the podcast, Dr. Imani Perry suggests, “Kids all over the world are experiencing this, so trying to figure out how to usher them through this is much more important (than the academic load). Use music, dancing, jokes, she encourages, as her grandmother did during another dangerous time of Jim Crow. “Find small pleasure every day and relish them.”  Both guests encourage us to raise ethical questions with older kids, in hopes they will embrace our “mutual destiny” to make a better world once we get through this crisis.

·      Dr. Imani Perry’s video interview with Krista Tippett at Chautauqua Institute is here: https://www.c-span.org/video/?463088-2/breathe

·      Dr. William Hite and Philadelphia School District resources are here: https://www.philasd.org

Move it or lose it?

Some of you have active children and/or you need a good workout yourself. Check out these daily aerobic exercise classes to get your heart rate up: Exercise with Joe is amazing! (Not for the faint hearted!)  Or, try something meditative and invigorating, like tai chi or yoga. See resources below.

P. E. with JOE!

Can't beat his enthusiasm! On his YouTube Channel (Body Coach TV) Joe shares a new 30-minute YouTube class for kids daily. Scroll past his first talky intro. Tune in for daily workouts. Kids all over the world are participating, and he announces their locations with joy.

·      https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAxW1XT0iEJo0TYlRfn6rYQ

Short Workouts from NYTimes:
Here is the link for 6 and 9 minute workouts:

·      https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/18/well/move/in-6-minutes-you-can-be-done-with-your-workout.html

Try Tai Chi!

Not into aerobics? I do tai chi every day, and I am trying to learn the Eight Brocades, slow and meditative, Qigong exercises.  

These “smooth, silken movements” are beautifully explained and led by Mimi Kuo-Deemer in an 18-minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K-0JpiJu-o

Sit in your chair for Yoga!

·      Here is a 10-minute chair yoga routine with good explanations: https://www.verywellfit.com/chair-yoga-poses-3567189

Lower your expectations! There are NUMEROUS academic resources available online for children of all ages. Perhaps your child’s school has assigned a long list of activities. Remember the wise words of Dr. Bryson: “Now is not the time when you have to win the best parent of the year award… lower our expectations.” And don’t forget Dr. Perry’s advice “to find the small pleasures every day and relish them,”

The activities below can be fun for various ages of children.

Scholastic has provided various grade levels with videos and activities for pre-school thru grade-school. Remember, for beginning readers go down a grade level at least! Browse around, choose a video to watch together (I like the bunnies), then try a short activity.

·      https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html

Travel and Leisure Magazine has provided a link to virtually tour twelve art museums. Awesome. Follow with drawing or painting with kids! Want a geography or math lesson? Plan an itinerary to visit one of these museums on day.

·      https://www.travelandleisure.com/attractions/museums-galleries/museums-with-virtual-tours?fbclid=IwAR2lxpylDHTP9bMb8DWvgp0iaxhQIx_-iMYPbcwNnQ700ZvXuYApFA_HsGI

We got STEM: These 18 Craft Ideas for Kids from Smart Schoolhouse are so cool! They include making giant bubble mix, microwaving soap... and crafting a geodesic dome! You likely have the materials at home. Unfortunately, you must scroll through numerous ads.

·     https://www.smartschoolhouse.com/diy-crafts/ideas-for-kids

Play with beans, egg cartons, and your imagination or read with Grandma!
I video with my grandson while he shows me the cool activities his mom “cooks up” each day. They are using colorful beads, but you can also try dried beans or noodles. I’m so grateful they video-visit with me. I reciprocate by reading a story to my grandchildren to give their parents a few minutes of rest. Calvin and Hobbes are the current favorites. Do you have some elders who’d enjoy a video visit, card, or call? 

Nature heals us in mind, body, and spirit.

Some of us are lucky enough to be able to go outside. Some of us cannot. I took photos on a nature walk and sent them to my grandchildren with a scavenger hunt list of items to spot. Maybe they will draw some of the plants or make their own rock tower and play “I spy!”  No nature nearby? Take my scavenger hunt nature walk with your child!

“Let's go on a spring nature walk! Who can find flowers? Two are Bloodroot and Violet. Can you find some cool rocks? Can you find some fungi that looks like turkey tails? How about a bunny tail? Can you find prickly leaves? How about a tree tunnel or red berries--NO EATING! Can you find something that looks like a tiny pine tree? It's really a moss! How about Usnea Lichen? I think it looks like a scratchy beard! Can you find a plant with a square stem? That means it’s part of the mint family. Do you have any mint in your house? Can you find a flower with stars inside? What else can you find on our nature walk! What can you find looking out your window or near where you live?

PANDEMONIUM: Do something silly and fun.
Bang some pots and pans with your neighbors, or do a "social distancing drum circle" like we did with our neighbors. The kids danced, the dogs barked, passersby honked, and we had fun drumming away our Covid-19 concerns. 

May we all find and provide comfort with each other, through families, friends, and members of our local and global communities. Stay well and savor our time together.

 3-24-20 Susan Gelber Cannon

GUEST POST #5: Helping Children in Homes with Substance Abuse (EA/UNCW Think-Care-Act Project Partnership)

Introduction:

Dr. Elizabeth O. Crawford and I met at the 2014 National Conference for Social Studies.  I presented a session, Change the World: Local and Global Think-Care-Act Projects, and Dr. Crawford, an education professor at University of North Carolina Wilmington, attended my session.  From our meeting arose our EA/UNCW Think-Care-Act Project Partnership. 

Through the 2014-15 school year, my current and former sixth and seventh grade students at The Episcopal Academy “taught” Dr. Crawford’s senior pre-service education majors how to think about personal qualities and talents, identify passions for social change, and act to change the world for the better.  Through Skype and shared project plans, my students and those of Dr. Crawford have inspired and encouraged each other to make a difference.  We are delighted and proud to share the TCAP work of our students, and we will present jointly at NCSS in November 2015.

For Dr. Crawford’s students, the culminating piece of the Think-Care-Act Projects was to write a guest blog post about their projects.  Below, and for the next few blog postings, you will read guest blogs from future teachers, with links for further research and teaching suggestions.  This one by Jen Hinson and Savannah Mangrum deals with helping children in homes with substance abuse.  

This is the last of our EA/UNC Partnership blog series of five guest posts.  We hope this post, like the others, will be inspirational reading for thinking, caring, and acting!—Sue Cannon

GUEST POST #5: Helping Children in Homes with Substance AbuseBy Jen Hinson & Savannah MangrumUniversity of North Carolina Wilmington

Enrolled into Watson College at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, education students welcome the concept of the Think-Care-Act Project. As future teachers, students seek to find ways to instruct a classroom about civic engagement.

Are Children Harmed if They Don’t Inhale?

Teachers encounter struggling students in the classroom on a daily basis. Some of these students struggle with behavior, the development of social relationships, emotions, academics, and even attentiveness. There are a variety of reasons for these struggles, ranging from lack of self-confidence to being victims of abuse. An alarm may not sound for every child’s safety, but where does the concern for these children truly begin? For this Think-Care-Act Project, we have considered how to help students who struggle from child maltreatment that occurs alongside parental drug abuse.

The Innocents

Drug addiction is more than a habit or a problem, drug addiction is a disease. Drug addiction deals with much more than illegal substances. Individuals can become addicted to alcohol, over the counter and/or prescribed medication, and tobacco products. Once a person is dependent on a substance, the abuse may begin. Drug abuse is a result of a brain disease that influences decision making. Whether the choice to begin using drugs is voluntary or necessary, drug addicts develop a chronic brain disease that governs their future decisions concerning drugs. The brain disease that develops dictates the decisions individuals make when experiencing the impulse to use a drug.

Drug abuse does not just affect the abuser. Those who are dependent on alcohol or illicit drugs affect every individual in their life, including their children. To ensure proper social emotional development, children require stability—a stable and predictable home alongside reliable parents. Dependence on substances can lead to child maltreatment. The needs of children can quickly become second to the parents’ impulses for substances or their recovery from substances’ effects.  Children of individuals who abuse substances are likely to experience, “a disruption in the bonding process; emotional, academic, and developmental problems; lack of supervision; parentification; social stigma; and adolescent substance use and delinquency.” (Protecting children, 2009)

Can We Make a Difference About Something So Hushed?

Teachers can empower their students to be a change in the world by raising awareness, providing resources, and educating others. When students are given the opportunity to make a difference, they will do so. Adora Svitak tells readers that teachers can empower their students by “involving students in real issues.”  Incorporating the real world into the classroom by prompting students to practice the skills that they are learning will empower them to take ownership of their education. Students will be more motivated to continue growing as learners and individuals if they are able to see the impact that they are making.

The concept of drug abuse is not one that is willingly discussed in grade school, so how do teachers approach such situations? Teachers provide stability in the classroom. Children are able to thrive from pattern and routine as they have an understanding of what is expected of them. Teachers can be advocates for children who struggle in school due to child maltreatment. Alongside all of the superhero powers that they already have, teachers can find resources for these struggling students. The reach that teachers have when it comes to children is immeasurable and with the correct information, teachers are capable of connecting students to counselors, psychologists, and specialists.

Two Girls, One Small Action, and Clear and Evident Impact

As university students who are working towards earning elementary education degrees, our action was to donate time. We donated a considerable amount of time to a local substance abuse rehabilitation center every Wednesday afternoon and Sunday morning. In four hour blocks, we spent time with children whose parents were taking their own action and who were committed to their recovery.  While their parents were in treatment sessions, we did activities with the children.

We also donated supplies. These supplies were ones that could be used in the rehabilitation center’s nursery, as these children spent much of their time here. In a facility where the main focus was substance abuse recovery, we two girls worked to bring children the supplies and attention they needed and couldn’t have gotten from their own guardians.

--By Jen Hinson & Savannah Mangrum, 2015

Resources:

• Protecting children in families affected by substance use disorders. (2009) Retrieved from:https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/substanceuse.pdf#page=27&view=CHAPTER%203%20How%20Parental%20Substance%20Use%20Disorders%20Affect%20Children
• Sivtak, A. (2012, February 8). Five ways to empower students. Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/empower-students-adora-svitak
• Other links:
• http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/16/us-usa-drinking-study-idUSTRE81F0CB20120216
• http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/treatment-approaches-drug-addiction
• https://findtreatment.samhsa.gov/TreatmentLocator/faces/quickSearch.jspx

For more about how to do Think-Care-Act Projects with students: read Sue Cannon's blog: http://thinkcareact.blogspot.com/2014/11/change-world-local-global-think-care.html