Communication and cooperation make life easier. If being stuck at home together has taught us one thing, it’s that getting along matters! It’s important to learn positive communication skills and to share the workload of the home so that everyone has a lighter burden to bear. Children must learn the value of working as a team and making a contribution, and quarantine is the perfect training ground. To teach this lesson, cultivate a team spirit in your home by being clear about your family’s core values, building on strengths, and valuing everyone’s contributions.
Embrace the slower pace. You might be missing it now, but remember when your calendar was jam packed and life was a blur? Now there’s time for board games, baking, biking, gardening, and playing. These activities may seem mundane, but this slower paced life is allowing us to reset and reconnect. It is a gift. Embrace it, and teach your children to embrace it, too. Talk about the value of slowing down and reconnecting with oneself and each other. I have a feeling that when our children look back on quarantine a decade from now, they may just do so fondly because of all the hours we got to spend together.
