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Friday 27 March 2020

How to survive self isolation with children.

Age 1-5 :

They will demand a lot of your attention throughout the day (and night) and you'll have to manage trying to get things done in spurts. It's annoying because you will often start things and be interrupted. You'll forget things, be reminded, have to deal with things you mustn't forget. Feeding, entertaining, keeping them occupied, chores (theirs, from 2 onward, and yours). Those spurts will get longer as the years go by and your children learn the rules and learn to entertain themselves.

The good news is self entertainment starts early. Just give them safe things to be entertained by. Cardboard boxes, tissue boxes, toilet rolls, beans in a bottle with a secure lid, pots and pans with wooden spoons, spaghetti, rice, a piece of bread. Things they can pull apart and explore that isn't dangerous for them, because they love to grab and pull and bite. The list will grow as they get older to include safe toys, pretend baking, mud cakes, playing with balls, musical instruments, all manner of activities. The list is endless.

It's up to you to police the situation vs their age and activity. If it's going to bother you or make you angry, change the activity.  Such as a child is rolling cat tins along a wooden floor and you're on the phone, swap the tins with something not so noisy. Maybe a bag of onions or some potatoes. Something they can move easily without being too noisy or able to swallow and choke on.

Age 6-10 :

By this age children will have split into two types:
1) Those who don't self entertain.
2) Those that do self entertain.

They both have good and bad points.

Type 1 are easy to get close to because they hang around you and ask questions, interrupt, do the look at me/here I am routine. They're friendly. However, they can demand too much of your time. The best way to occupy these types is to give them actionable tasks: play with the dog, draw, read, clean your room, walk the dog, climb a tree. Talk to them about how important it is that they need to know how to self entertain. Remember you are not their entertainment.

Type 2 are more aloof, quiet, withdrawn. They don't give or want much attention. They are happy in their own company. The other side is, they can become too withdrawn from the family unit. It is important to include them in as many family components you and they can managed.  Such as baking, eating with the family, chores (they still need to contribute). Talk to them about how important it is they join in the family unit.

Age 11-16 :

As the years go by children will become more independent, more withdrawn, more clingy, more snappy or moody. You'll experience a wealth of emotions, just as you feel within yourself. You'll have pleasant moments and not so pleasant moments (or if you're unlucky, you'll mostly have unpleasant moments). This is the time to include children in lots of chores, yet it's important no to go too heavy. Children can learn basic cooking, bigger cleaning chores, handy chores (changing light bulbs), art, music, gardening. Pay attention to what their interests are and encourage them to do those things.

Again, you should police them as in: give them policies; bed by X, no electronics at X time, eat at X time etc. Rules, along with inclusive actions and occasions.

If your children are anything like almost every other child out there who has some form of electronic entertainment, you'll struggle with electronic overload. This is again where chores come into play. Have them do a chore in return for so many hours on their device. Have them help bake, make, cook or create something and reward them with time on their device. Have days off of those devices. Even if this is only ever each Sunday. It's one day better than nothing... but remember to BREAK UP THEIR USE WITH CHORES, TASKS, ACTIVITIES, FUN, LAUGHTER, TIME TOGETHER.

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