Written by Parents and caregivers all over the country are embarking on a new and challenging journey of educating their children at home. As schools are forced to close due to the ongoing Coronavirus situation, children are now spending the majority of their time at home causing them to abandon the normalcy of their typical routine, limiting the amount of socialization they’re receiving, and spending a lot of time indoors. As a parent, It may seem daunting and overwhelming but these tips may help.
Develop structure and routine.
Children, like adults, handle transitions best when it’s expected and occurs within the framework of a familiar routine. A routine adds predictability and structure to your day. It will help your children gain independence, and avoid power struggles parents so often have with their children.
To allow for flexibility, spontaneity, and creativity your routine should have a few staple activities. These can include breakfast, book time, structured learning, art, movement activities, lunch, etc. but have some activities that change daily to add an aspect of fun, and surprise! Go over your schedule each morning, and stick to it the best you can. Additionally, to give your child some input have a spot for a free choice where your child could pick a special activity for the day!
Plan your days wisely. When deciding what activities to do and when, think about when your child is at their best. If your child is most focused and refreshed in the morning, plan more channeling activities then. Additionally, put a more reinforcing activity after a more challenging one or put a movement activity after a seated activity.
A visual schedule may be most beneficial to our young learner. A visual schedule is a series of pictures that provides visual cues for the specific steps in an activity or task. Visual schedules help to ease anxiety by showing your child exactly what is going to happen and in what order it will occur. Using a visual schedule can develop a positive routine and coping skills. Children will begin looking for information which in turn will increase flexibility, and develop the skill to help manage life’s unpredictability. Often children with language delays and/or other learning disabilities struggle to understand what is being said to them. A visual schedule will help to provide a visual cue of the day’s event. There are many ways to make a visual schedule! Here are some examples:
Catch your child being good!
Catch them being good and make a big deal about it! Too often the negative behaviors get the bigger reaction, and more of your attention. For children, attention is attention.
Negative attention is just as reinforcing as positive attention. Negative attention is all those times you say “no”, “stop”, “don’t do that”, you run over to stop your child from taking a toy from their sibling, you yell across the room for them not to climb on the TV stand while you’re cooking dinner, or you constantly return them to “time out” after they hit their sibling.
In those times where you’re addressing a negative behavior your child is learning ‘I have your undivided attention.’ Your undivided attention is all your child wants.
Start throwing the party when your child does what you ask them the first time you ask them to do it. You need to be sure all the positive behaviors you see from your child get more attention than those pesky negative ones. If you do this, you’ll begin to see all the things you want your child to be doing more and more because they will quickly learn good things happen when I do good stuff.
A great tip is to set a timer for 5 minutes (usually a silent or vibrating timer is best). When the timer goes of be sure to find something positive your child is doing and reinforce them for it. It doesn’t need to be anything big, but sometimes a little back rub, thumbs up, or a simple “I love the way you are playing” goes a long way. Consistent reinforcement for positive behavior helps to remind kids to keep up the good stuff.
At this time of uncertainty formal education may be on hold, but it doesn’t mean that your child needs to miss out. Take this opportunity to engage with your child and spend some quality time with them. Take it one day at a time, and we’ll be back to our normal routines before we know it!