A friend of ours shared a story last week. His wife (a teacher) was on day 2 of staying home with their kids given the cancellation of schools. The night before they spent their first day at home together they had a family discussion about the children’s daily schedule at home with mom, detailing what times they would be waking, 
working on their school lessons, when they would have “brain breaks,” when they would eat lunch, etc. Day 1 went off without a hitch.
On day 2 around mid afternoon he called his wife to see how things were going. To his surprise, she answered in a whisper. Inquiring about why his wife was being so quiet, she responded, “Shhhhhhh, I’m in the bathroom hiding from the
kids. I just. Need. A. Little. Break.”
Those of you who have taken on the responsibility of home schooling your little ones find this quite comical, I’m sure. You live in that reality day in and day out. God bless you. Seriously. For the rest of us, COVID-19 has rushed us into a very new reality with very new stresses and very new frustrations.
The bad news: we are just getting started. Abilene is yet to have any confirmed cases as of this afternoon but does have 90 COVID-19 tests pending. That’s ninety. 9-0. We are seeing the virus in communities as close to us as Brownwood, Wichita Falls, and Eastland County. Chances are, if we’re being honest, it’s already here as well. Hunker down.
The good news: We’re all in this together. You. Us. The entirety of Abilene and the surrounding communities, the state of Texas, the country, and the world. We know it’s stressful. We feel that too. Take a breath. Reach out to your friends and family via social media. Go on a walk (maintaining social distancing of course). Eat together as a family more than you did before. Read together more. Build forts with your little ones out of blankets and pillows. Throw the ball in the yard with your teenager and ask him/her how that last date went (awkward….). And when the stress mounts, check out these resources for some help:
- Positive Parenting & COVID-19 A good read on keeping the peace at home from a great website to consistently spend time on (https://healthychildren.org)
- Colic AND coronavirus???!!! For those of you with newborns in the home
Or if you’re just looking for a laugh, follow Dave Barnes (musician) on Instagram and enjoy his creativity:
As always, we’re here if you need us!
Pediatric Associates