Think for a moment how uncertain this time has felt for you.

The questions you have had, many without answers.

Wondering what is next?

Think about how much your day to day life has changed.

What you miss.

How out of control you may feel.

Now imagine being a child.

Trying to understand this already complex world; learning and processing so many new things each day.

Life has been turned upside down and inside out for all of us. Some days are easy and enjoyed. Other are more of a struggle.

Below are a few tips that I hope you will find helpful in making this time a little easier for you and your little one. But as always, BE KIND TO YOURSELF. After all none of us are trained for what we are currently going through.

Tips To Help Your Kids Through Quarantine

Pretend play about somewhere they miss going such as a favorite restaurant or store. We’ve done this both with dolls and ourselves; pretending to go to our favorite bookstore and coffee shop, even the hair salon. Or have a movie night and pretend to be at the movie theatre, “buy tickets” and get movie snacks.

Pretend play will give your kids the chance to express themselves and their feelings in ways they may have a hard time finding the right words for (check out my article here on Talking To Your Kids About Difficult Topics for more on this).

Have fun with it and create a whole family experience. The memories you will create for your kids will be priceless.

Routine, and I know some of us hate this word right now and cannot imagine putting a routine in place. But guess what? It does not have to be a full structured schedule, hour by hour or minute by minute of your day. Just something your little ones can count on happening each day. The best part is you can make it fun and be whatever you want it to be!

Our routine each day happens in the 12 o’clock hour when we turn up the music and have a 30 minute dance party. My 4 year old looks forward to picking out the soundtrack and we dance away. The plus side for me is it usually tires them out so they are ready for nap time or quiet time right after.

Look at pictures and photos

Who doesn’t love to look at pictures?! My daughter and I had fun not only looking back at pictures from a couple years ago but also those from just a few months ago. It really helped us to talk about what and how things have changed. How just a few short months ago at the holidays we were able to be together with all of our family sharing hugs. It helped to look back on her first birthday party and talk about how this year it will just be with mom, dad and baby sis and how baby sister’s first birthday will be different from her own. But most importantly it seemed to bring her comfort that although today things are different we have these memories and one day we will be able to get back to similar experiences. Right now we are just making new memories.

Order out from your family’s favorite restaurant and trust me if you haven’t done it yet it will bring back a little bit of normal that is so needed right now. Plus you will be supporting an industry that desperately needs it now more than ever. Although my daughter really misses going to her fav lunch and dinner spot it brought our family so much comfort to sit together and look forward to treating ourselves to one of our favorite meals. Have fun with it too and make it a whole experience. Perhaps someone pretends to be the server or have music playing in the back ground. Most restaurants have where you can print out their menus and you can recreate the whole overall eating out experience.

Find a way to give your child the chance to make choices each day. Similar to a routine it will allow them to have something to count on, something to be in control of, while everything seems so out of control, and helps to curb some resistance when you have to give them direction on something else later on.

For example I have let my daughter pick out what shirt she will wear each day. After all we are not going anywhere so it’s the perfect time to allow her to express her own style. Now I’m sure some of you might be saying this is great and all but what will we do if they never let us pick their clothes for them again.

Easy solution…talk to them about their choices.

Teaching them how to make smart choices in something as simple as what shirt to wear will start to enable them to make smart choices in other areas of life as well. When my daughter chose to wear a tank top on a 40 degree day and then mentioned she was cold a few hours later we talked about how maybe that wasn’t the right shirt for the day and what would have been a better choice.

Do not forget to compliment them when they make a good choice. The amount of pride they have will make your heart melt. Just like the routines we talked about above I am not saying it has to be allowing them to have control over everything. Start small and build from there.

What are some things you & your little ones have put into place to help with this transition? Share below and thanks for stopping by!

Nichole