5 tips for surviving the lockdown with children

17th May 2020

Now that we are coming into the second month of the lockdown, you may feel like you’re losing not only your patience but also your enthusiasm to provide the much needed support to your children. As parents of young children ourselves, we know the struggles of trying to juggle work, daily chores and then the education and wellbeing of our children (and ourselves!). Here are just a few tips that we have found have worked with our own children and will hopefully give you some new ideas to get through this next phase.

1. Be mindful of your child’s eating habits
It’s easy to fall into bad habits when you don’t have much to do and snacking is one thing that people do when they are bored. During the first week of the lockdown we found ourselves constantly faced with requests from our children of ‘wanting a snack’. As we know this is not only frustrating for the adult, but can also cause children to become lazy and unmotivated if they’re eating the wrong types of food at the wrong times. An easy way to tackle this was an idea found on Facebook from another mum, who gave each of her children their own box/basket which they would fill each morning with healthy snacks and their water bottle. The children were then told this would be their only snacks for the duration of the day. We found this idea very successful and it saved us a lot of trips to the kitchen!

2. Maintain routine
Where possible, try to have some structure to your day. This does not necessarily have to be driven by the strictest of timings but knowing what the general pattern of the day will be, is not only beneficial for you as a parent but will also give your children a sense of security and should hopefully prevent boredom. A loose schedule could look something like this:

Breakfast
Exercise
Home Learning
Lunch
Reading
Short Walk
Arts/Crafts
Games
Dinner
Free Time

3. Create a dedicated learning environment
Getting your child to work at home can be challenging enough especially with all the distractions the children face at home that they do not have to deal with at school. In order for you to get the best out of your child in terms of work, it is essential that you set up a space specifically for learning. This could be as basic as a table and chair set up with all the stationary available. Having a dedicated area along with a dedicated time for work will help you in ensuring that the distractions are kept to minimum within that time and space. You should hopefully find your child is much more focused and committed with this set up.

4. Exercise and the outdoors
When you calculate how much time your child would be spending being physically active outdoors at school, it would average to about one and a half hours a day. With this in mind, it is clear to see that within this lockdown, we need to get our children moving and taking in some vitamin D from the sun. Whether it is a walk around the block, a game of hopscotch in your garden or following exercise videos on YouTube, ensure your child is getting some sort of physical activity daily.

5. Have fun!
I’m sure most parents have had the thought of ‘If only I had some time, I would do….. with my kids’, I know I have! Well, this is the time to think of all the silly and crazy things you have always wanted to do with your children and do them. We’ve baked; we’ve role played; we’ve had performances; we’ve created masterpieces; we’ve turned bedrooms into castles; we’ve made musical instruments; we’ve created sculptors, the list is endless of what you can do with your child. The great thing is if you can’t think of anything to do, just ask your child what they’ve always wanted to do and they will always come up with the best ideas!

I’m sure everyone is doing the best that they can during these unusual circumstances; we would like to commend all parents out there for doing a great job with your children. If you would like any further support regarding your child’s education, contact us at info@lbctuition.com or ring 01535 600009 and one of our tutors will be happy to help.