Lockdown (for the 2nd) time may not be the ideal situation for your little ones, or for the rest of your family for that matter. However, you will be pleased to find out that some easy-to-action tactics can help make things much more comfortable for the kids. Just keep reading to find out what they are.
Make a big deal of special occasions.
Sadly, taking the kids for days out to celebrate birthdays and other special occasions isn't possible right now. However, that doesn't mean you still can't make a big deal of high days and holidays. Indeed, having these to look forward to and enjoy, even if it's not their own birthday that they are celebrating can help break up the days.
With that in mind, you may wish to use some of the tactics that we used here to make your child's birthday in lockdown extra special. I've also heard of other parents doing things like throwing zoom parties or organising treasure hunts in the garden. Some have even been getting friends to make happy birthday signs to display along the route of their daily walk to make them feel extra special.
Encourage them to contact their friends.
Connection with people is particularly important for everyone right now. Of course, we are so lucky that access to the internet makes it much easier for all the family to contact loved ones and friends. Indeed, encouraging your kids to reach out and interact with others in their friendship group is a great way of helping them to feel connected and some normalcy right now.
Of course, when it comes to kids and using internet apps such as Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp, it is important to consider their safety. The good news is that there are some strategies you can use to make sure your kids can use online applications like these safely. The first is that you talk to them about internet safety; after all, if they are old enough to be online, they are old enough to understand some of the dangers.
Additionally, you may wish to use an app that allows you to monitor your child's WhatsApp messages. There are several of these on the market, and you may like to check out this one from Family Orbit, which works with WhatsApp and text messages, call history, web history, photos, videos, and events. It can even track your child's GPS location, which as things get back to normal, and they can play out again could come in very useful.
Try something new every day.
Boredom is a big problem in lockdown, and chances are if your kids are bored, you won't be able to get on with what you are doing either. With that in mind, to prevent boredom during these challenging times, it's very important to infuse some novelty and some things to look forward to each day.
To that end, why not encourage the kids to try one new activity a day, whether it's making a craft they haven't tried before, cooking a new dish, or even choosing a different route for their daily exercise walk. You may just be surprised at what a difference it can make.
