6 tips to make your kids home stay productive during lock down

With this situation of dealing with COVID-19, people are learning to adjust to this new reality. As if this wasn’t intimidating enough, add a young toddler or a curious child to the mix and the task becomes even more daunting. Learning to balance your kid’s life, managing the imposed hassles of working from home, and carrying out household chores is pretty unnerving. Children tend to get fidgety and anxious confined indoors and with limited options to entertain themselves while their parents carry out work responsibilities. It is important to give your kids a sense of normality to ensure that they do not feel that their lives are completely disrupted.

Here are some tips to prevent you from fretting about your kids and ensuring they stay productive in this lockdown :

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   Involving them in household chores

For the foreseeable future, your kids will be observing you working on your laptops and still juggling with meals and maintaining a clean house. Experts have advised that kids learn from what they perceive in their surroundings very easily and will want to help out. Start by assigning them small household chores like setting the table or watering the plants or feeding the dog. This is truly a blessing in disguise, especially with hyperactive kids. This instills a sense of responsibility in them and makes them feel that they have been helpful in away.

2. Create a schedule for their day in advance

Kids who have been going to school all their lives have grown accustomed to having a schedule set for them in their classes. Basically, they know what to expect from their day. In this sudden frenzied world, irregularity has become the new norm that most kids are having problems adjusting to. It is better to keep their lives as less disrupted as possible. Set a time to wake them up and be ready. Plan your schedule as a family to ensure that kids get to have breakfast with you before you start your work. Pick a time for them to complete their assigned homework. Though you may slow things down and not keep their schedule jam-packed, it is important for them to have a sense of normalcy and set boundaries.

3. Nurture their interests

Kids have a fixed curriculum in their schools and limited time to pick or develop hobbies that appeal to them. This lockdown can be seen as a boon to give your kids time to dwell on their interests. Forcing them into something will make them lose interest soon and not pan out well in the long run. Invest time with your kids to learn what fascinates them and try to steer them in that direction. Encouraging their enthusiasm will also instill discipline and help them in opening up to you regarding their aspirations.

4. Enroll your kids in academic enrichment programs

While it is important for kids to stay creative and explore their extracurricular side, it is also imperative that their studies remain unaffected. There are many apps that provide an academic enriching syllabus but do not cater to every child’s requirement. Etutorworld is an online tutoring app that offers these enrichment programs. These can be customized according to your child’s needs and focus on their skills while also stimulating their minds. There are a host of subjects for students ranging from young kids to teenagers getting ready to give their SATs. Your child will find the online program to be very engaging and unique subject-specific lessons to keep their individuality flowing. These online programs can be tailored as per the wish of the student giving the flexibility to choose the subject, date, and time at his/her own pace.

5. Make sure that their screen time is limited but consequential

TV can be addictive for kids but it does not have to be a bad thing. It can be quite educational as well as enjoyable. Make your kids watch documentaries or educational programs in correspondence to their lessons. For example, they can watch a series on an animal, and then you can assign them tasks to write a report on that particular animal or make a collage about the facts that they learned in the series. This keeps them occupied while you get your tasks completed and helps them learn something new in the process. If your kids are creative and operate computers perfectly then you can help them learn some easy design tools to create images or prepare online presentations.

6. Create memories and have fun as a family!

With the depressing news of Coronavirus that we receive every day, it is hard to stay positive. But the silver lining to this lockdown is the unprecedented amount of time everyone is getting to spend with their kids. With our busy lifestyles, we hardly get to see our children except on weekends and holidays which are generally meant for completing the pending tasks to lavish attention on our munchkins. This is the perfect time to mend this error. Try doing scavenger hunts or indoor games or bake their favourite dessert with them or make random craft projects by recycling stuff already in your house or just goof about. Hang out with popcorn and have an old series rerun and have random pillow fights. Recreate scenes from their favorite movies by dressing up. Give their rooms a makeover and involve them in the planning. It is not about the task but about the memories you create. Take loads of pictures together and ensure that the kids enjoy and remember these moments.

Lastly, do not stress if your kid isn’t productive every minute of every day. These are unprecedented times and it is important to find a new balance than the kind that we were used to. Try being patient and understanding with your kids and going with the flow. Make sure to take some time for your own personal and emotional well being. Please stay happy and safe along with your families.