As this week’s news ramped up about the Coronavirus, so did tensions around the world. Schools are closing and extending spring break, some to clean, and some to manage the outbreak. I have some suggestions for how to handle coronavirus as a family.

Be Open To Learn

I got a lot of backlash on social media on Wednesday because of a comment I made on my Facebook page that “if my kids schools are closed, I’d love to rent an RV and take them across the country”. The comment I made was just a hypothetical situation. I was just talking out loud about how I would want to make a positive situation out of a negative situation. How I would want to give my kids an education via an outdoor environment.

I was called ignorant and considered irresponsible for making such a statement. At first my feelings were a little hurt. But then I realized that people are reacting out of emotion. One of the people who made a statement lives in Italy. She has been quarantined for several weeks. Her children are school age; but they didn’t have a plan in place for their schooling needs. I think they are just now doing some online classes.

During stressful times, people deal with stress in several ways, some make jokes, some lash out, some stay quiet. I’d like to just ask people to be kind to one another during this hard time. Everyone handles stress differently; but I still believe in the golden rule, “treat others how you would like to be treated yourself.”

On Wednesday night the President of the United States addressed the country and what will be done to protect the US citizens. I felt that it was important for my children to watch the address so we could talk about it as a family. I wanted to know what was being said at school and then compare that to what we learned from the Presidential address.

Basic Hygiene

As I write this, our schools are still currently open. Two big points we are telling our children who are 11 and 12 is

• Wash their hands frequently with soap and hot water
• DO NOT TOUCH their face
• Sleep. Believe it or not it’s still important to get your sleep so you can remain healthy.
• Eat healthy. Yes, it’s important to eat your green things every day. I don’t know what the future holds in terms of having access to groceries and fresh produce; but if you can, please be sure to get some. Make some soups ahead of time and freeze them.

Other basic common sense tips are to cover their mouth and nose with their sleeve if they cough or sneeze and then wash their hands again. It’s the beginning of allergy season where we live so there may be coughing and sneezing related to that as well. So it’s important to use soap and water in addition to any hand sanitizers.

We are also recommending they clean and disinfect their phones often. They don’t bring their phones outside the home; when they come home they are touching them along with their other electronics. So we are being diligent about cleaning our phones.

Handling Anxiety

As I said, tensions are high right now. That was one of the reasons why I wanted to make sure we talked about this as a family at dinner last night. Then we watched the speech from the President.

If your family is feeling anxiety from the latest news or what they are hearing from schools, get the information for them to help answer their questions. You can visit the CDC and World Health Organization web sites for the most current and up-to-date information.

When something big happens, we are overloaded with information, some good, some bad. Yesterday was one of those days. I was at a client site and there were cancellations of trade shows and events left and right. It’s very disruptive to an every day schedule. Therefore, causing additional stress on top of a normal workload.

Some ways you can manage your own anxiety could be by following my suggestions below:

• Get outside and take a walk. Get some fresh air and help reset yourself. Remove yourself from your desk and the emails for a little bit.
• If you normally work out, continue to do so. You may not feel the motivation to work out. Sometimes the hardest part is changing into your workout clothes. Once you do, you are one step closer to reaching your goal. The workout will release endorphins and help lift your mood.
• If you feel like you have nervous energy, use that to your benefit. Do you have a pile of papers on your desk you have been ignoring to clean up? Tackle that pile now. You’ll feel productive and see your progress from doing something with your hands.

Boredom Busters

If your school or work is closing and you are asked to stay home, I have some ideas to help you manage the boredom. Where we live, the weather is getting nicer out, so despite being at home, I’d like to use this opportunity to do some things outside as a family.

• Start a garden. We like to start our vegetable and flower garden by seed. Each spring we use soil pods and our indoor greenhouse and grow our plants from seed.
• Get outdoors. Just because you are at home doesn’t mean you can’t do things outdoors. We have the farm up the street from us. If the kids don’t have school, I plan on spending more time up at the farm. We will talk to our farmer friend Jeff and see what we can do for some hands-on help for him. It’s chick season now, so we can help Jeff take care of his new batch of chicks. I also want to incorporate some outdoor learning with the kids.

• Cook together. Why not take this time to do some homeschooling at a different level. Teach your kids how to bake or cook. I bet everyone has a few boxes of cake mix in the house. Take some of the everyday activities you do and use the time to teach your kids how to manage a home. Do this with age-appropriate tasks of course.
• Binge Watch. Yes, I said it. Sometimes it’s ok to allow yourself to watch some mindless television. Streaming shows can sometimes help take your mind off the current situation and allow your brain to rest from the outside stresses. Do it as a family or allow everyone to have some downtime to hang in their own space for a bit.

Find The Positive In A Negative Environment

This is rough on everyone. When I drove my son to school today I used the time to share with him how many times, inventions and good things can come out of a bad situation. I encouraged Kevin to think about how something good can come out of something bad. I’m sure new products will come out in the future because of this outbreak of a virus.

What I plan to take from this is:

• Embrace the family time. There may be some unplanned family time coming up. I still have my business to maintain, and the children will have to manage their schoolwork in a different working environment. This is something different for them. But I am going to remind myself to be patient.
• Tackle projects together. Most families have projects that have been put off for a rainy day. Take this time to tackle those projects, and get the kids involved if possible.
• Find a way that you can help others in your community virtually. If you can’t go out and help with your hands in public, find other ways to assist those in need. If there are elderly people who live alone at home; get their phone numbers to check on them. Ask your community center how you may be a help to them while you and they may be home-bound.

Are You Feeling Anxious About The Coronavirus?

Do you have any advice to share on how you and your family are handling all of these current changes? I’d love to hear what you are doing to help work through these stressful times. Leave a comment below.