Finding your footing in uncertain times: Balancing multiple kids with multiple schedules

…while staying (relatively) sane during a global pandemic

Links to each of tools are embedded within this article and free for use at home with your children

When the first schools closed in response to the pandemic, my immediate response was to create a sense of structure for my children and establish a feeling of safety and consistency during crisis. I spent a weekend and pulled together a plan that was flexible but still structured to create a semblance of footing during uncertainty. There were so many questions we needed to address.

How could we help our children feel supported while still doing the work we need to do each day to keep our own jobs?

How could we use this experience to empower our children and help them become more autonomous and independent learners?

What concerns should we plan for, conflicts can we predict ahead of time, and how can we stay flexible enough to ensure our focus is on our kids’ mental health while still learning?

And then I had to stop myself. We’re a gaming family. We love to play! And there’s no better analogy for how to learn than how to play through iteration with pivots and continued perseverance than games.

Using this lens I sought to bring clarity in a time of confusion and an attempt to share the more playful nature of our…