I’m writing this article in the midst of the Corona Virus pandemic. Last week the schools had their last day of in-person classes. This week some businesses are being shut down and other businesses such as banks and grocery stores are limiting their hours. The grocery store shelves are empty and good luck finding toilet paper anywhere! We’ve been advised to stay home and many of us are worried about how dangerous this new virus is. Of course, none of this is news to you – we are all living through it. We don’t know what the future holds and everyone is uncertain. We are all nervous, because never before have we experienced anything like this. I can’t help but wonder what effects this will have on our children.
The lives of most of our children have been altered to an extent they never dreamed possible. Their school has changed, their activities have ceased, and they are being told to practice social distancing. Most children, especially tweens and teens, are very social by nature and now it’s looking like it could be months before we are allowed to have social activities. Some children no longer have anything stable in their life. Many young people don’t understand why all these things are happening. I can only imagine what our children must be thinking and feeling!
And how will this uncertain time in history affect their development as human beings? Will these events scar them or make them stronger? So much is uncertain right now! I think it’s important for us as parents to remember that our children are in this, too. They may not be worried about having enough toilet paper, or being able to get to the store for food. Most kids aren’t wondering how in the world they are going to be able to pay their bills or put food on the table since their jobs no longer exist, but they can feel our stress and they realize more than we think.
I often have to remind myself that I have to be rational and calm for my kids’ sake. (This isn’t just during this pandemic – I tend to be a bit hyper sometimes, anyway.) I don’t want them to be scared and I don’t want to add worry to the disappointments that have come with all the cancellations. I don’t want my children remembering how scary and uncertain this pandemic made things. Instead, I hope to make this time a little extra special and when they are grown I want my kids to remember how strong and how positive my husband and I were through this crisis.
Please don’t get me wrong; I’m not trying to make light of this situation. I just want to encourage us all to remember we are still very blessed and we still have hope. I want to love my family a little stronger and hopefully get them through the disappointments and uncertainty with as little fear as possible.
How am I going to do that? First, I’m going to lean on my God. He is big and He is good and I choose to have faith that God will get us through this in the best possible manner. So I will pray and have faith. I realize that’s not everyone’s cup of tea and I’m not trying to force my beliefs on anyone. I’m simply stating one of the ways I’m trying to stay positive and strong for my kids.
I’m also going to try to make this time fun for my children. Yes, we will continue with school (my children are all homeschooled this year so we’ve already made the adjustments to coming home), but now we have time to do more fun things. For example, since we have no activities to go to in the evenings we can choose to sleep in, or watch a movie before we get started on school. We can get up and do school as usual and then spend the evening watching movies or playing games. I now have extra time that I can do crafts with my children again. (And trust me, even my teenager enjoys the crafts.) I now have more time to read good books aloud with my family. Yes, I still have to work some and there are still household duties to do, but what better way to ease our children’s worry and reassure them that we will get through this than to spend a little of that “extra” time loving on them?
I also plan to work on my family’s gratitude – including my own. Yes, this is a scary time and yes, there are some inconveniences, but we are still very blessed. We are lucky to live in an area that is trying to stay ahead of this and “flatten the curve”. Think how many lives will be saved. We are blessed to live in a nation with excellent health care and wonderful health workers. We are blessed with many different forms of entertainment for this trying time. I am blessed to be surrounded by those that I love! I have been blessed by the kindness and generosity of others who have supplied me with things like baby wipes when I couldn’t find any on the store shelves. I know there is a lot of negativity in times like these, but if we look hard enough we can also find the positives.
I hope this article helps to encourage you and I pray that our children will come out of this crisis stronger, having been reassured by those that love them. Thank you to all those who are on the front lines of this; especially those doctors, nurses, and other service providers who are putting themselves at risk to help others!
I wish you all health and safety and a quick return to normalcy. In the meantime, I hope that we can all find a little joy to spread to our children.
-by Kari Carr
About the Author: Kari doesn’t claim to be a parenting expert, just a mom to her four wonderful children and wife to the love of her life, Mike. Together they move through the ups and downs of raising kids in this crazy world. She struggles through the trials and joys of raising children from the ages of two to 15 years old. Kari received her degree at WKU and taught public middle school music and choir for seven years before opening her own business, Sound Beginnings Musikgarten & Vocal Studio. She lives and works in Bowling Green.
