coronavirus Archives — Thrifty Mommas Tips

Our Pandemic Story Week Seven Online School

Paula — Sun, 03 May 2020 02:33:02 +0000

Every week of the pandemic has arrived with a new theme. Know what I mean? But, oh my God, this week was not my favourite. This is week seven of our pandemic story and online school. I was all set to write a pandemic story about how well we were doing, making the best of this social distancing/ quarantine/ lockdown situation. On the weekend, I literally said out loud: “I am so proud of all of us. We get up and get dressed every single day and we try to do something, do work, take a walk, go for a quick hike. Bake or make or create a project, food, bread, cookies, treats.” In fact, I truthfully told a few people my teens were doing well at online schooling and mostly doing their work and they were. I was not being smug at all, just saying I was proud of them for trying to make the best of a crappy situation. Doing our part. That’s right. Stay home. Plank the curve. Flatten the curve and all of that. And then the universe laughed at me. Pandemic Life – Week Seven. This week, has been a hot mess of waking up, doing my online Yoga with Adriene, which I am still happy to maintain. BUT, can’t seem for the life of me to find an ounce of energy. Last week and the week before I pitched my head off and wrote a lot of content for CBC Parents. Happy to be paying my mortgage and sharing some of our stories there still. But, Monday seemed to usher in a whole new ball game. Rubber Meet Road So, I think the first trigger was the voicemail from a teacher that showed up when I was knee deep in sanitizing and disinfecting all of our washrooms Monday morning. “Hi, Mrs. Schuck, (one of the girls) has not turned in several items this month.” “Well, that is news to me.” Not even a day later came the email from the other girl’s teacher stating: “Hi, the work your other daughter sent through on Friday was a blank page. I don’t think she intended for that to happen, so can you have her try to submit it again? Sure, sure. Told my younger girl to try again and resend. She did the work, but it didn’t go through. Eventually, it did after we found it and resubmitted. Then it seemed that work started to pile up for both of them. All of that might have been simply a day of frustration, but to be honest the week ended as it began. Throughout the middle, there were numerous technical glitches and slow wifi and a wee bit of desperation, maybe. All along I have been hands off allowing the kids to bake and craft and hike and walk with me. Mental health first, I said. Except, when school actually transitioned online they started to get invested. “It’s something to do Mom. I miss school.” So, I rolled with it and I was happy that they seemed to be doing well. The tech glitches tripped us up and the calls and emails kept coming. For a bit, I was a fan of online schooling, but this week it just started adding frustration to an already stressful situation. My kids deal with anxiety on a regular basis and it’s obviously heightened right now, so I am not so sure what they are retaining. Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross honed the idea of the five stages of grief in her 1969 book On Death and Dying, inspired by her work with terminally ill patients. Five Stages of Grief She is the one that said there are five stages of grief. The five stages are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I think about these often in the context of actual grief itself from the loss of a loved one and in the context of parenting a child with special needs, and adoption. Kubler-Ross wrote a second book which argued that grief and loss stages also apply to situations that involve loss. So, the five stages of grief also apply to coronavirus and social distancing and life before and after the virus. Right now, we are stuck in the middle and I keep hoping we will get through soon. We continue, not unlike others, to pass through each of the stages, just doing our best. Ultimately, we are all well and I am ever grateful for that and taking precautions every day. WE are still trying. Until recently I thought what’s the big deal about online school? Do it, don’t do it. But, I am not so convinced that it’s working well right now in the middle of a pandemic. Next week will be something entirely different, I’m sure. Who knows what comes next?

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Mental Health Resources To Access Right Now

Paula — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 14:49:00 +0000

It’s no secret here to most of you that I have children with mental health diagnoses. One of my biggest concerns at the start of this pandemic was my older girl’s anxiety disorder and my younger girl’s aggression, which is a result of her FASD (fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.) Both teens do therapy on a regular basis and the youngest was in crisis for most of 2019. She might have turned a corner on that just recently due to therapy she’s finally been able to access. But jeopardizing any progress also was a concern for me. Keep These Mental Health Resources for Reference Now Staying on top of mental health issues and concerns here is vital to our well being as a family. This is a non negotiable. So, when all the appointments were terminated (logically of course because of social distancing), I worried their mental health gains would be lost. My older daughter right now, is using all of her mental health resources and tools, while taking her medicine and doing things that make her happy at home right now during the Coronavirus outbreak. She is coping pretty well and looking for the positives to help get through, which is not to say she’s not been mad or had outbursts. She has had a lot of concerns and irritable moments and she also had a head cold that entire first week. But, we are all doing our best. My younger girl is just that much younger, and she also has FASD (fetal alcohol spectrum, so she needs a lot of guidance and support and sometimes even all of that doesn’t work under the best of circumstances. The current pandemic with the very real threat of COVID-19 and the dramatic change to her daily routine means anxiety is higher than usual. Many of my readers also have anxiety, or have kids with special needs and mental health concerns, so with that in mind here is a list of mental health resources I have found for you to access right now if anxiety is flaring and you are struggling or needing support for kids with mental health issues. In fact, this pandemic is frightening for many people. I don’t have anxiety, but I was feeling very anxious that first week and disappointed too, of course. Many many travel plans and other things were cancelled. But, health takes priority. Here’s a List of Mental Health Resources if You Need Help Now Canada Mental Health Association- London-Middlesex: https://cmhamiddlesex.ca/ Canadian Mental Health Association- Information on mental health and COVID-19: http://www.camh.ca/en/health-info/mental-health-and-covid-19 Crisis Services Canada– Please call 1.833.456.4566 or Text 45645 for assistance. For more information, visit: https://www.crisisservicescanada.ca/en/ Reach Out – a confidential 24/7 information, support and crisis service for people living with mental health or addictions concerns in Elgin, Oxford, Middlesex and London. Please call: 519-433-2023 or 1-866-933-2023 or visit: https://reachout247.ca/ The Mental Health Commission of Canada: https://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English Mental health doesn’t discriminate according to age, race or gender. Mind Your Mind – An organization that offers interactive tools and resources for youth to promote positive mental health. My daughter also uses this resource frequently. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention– Managing anxiety and stress: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/managing-stress-anxiety.html Canadian Mental Health Association, BC Division. Some more information relating to anxiety specific to Covid-19 right now. World Health Organization– Coping with stress during the outbreak: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/coping-with-stress.pdf?sfvrsn=9845bc3a_2 Professor Bethany Teachman– How to manage anxiety: https://news.virginia.edu/content/expert-offers-practical-advice-manage-your-coronavirus-anxiety Mental Health Resources Specifically for Kids Access this Free COVID-19 Workbook on how to manage thoughts & emotions! This is the link – > Restoration Therapy Services. Love how easy the emotions are broken down here and also how she discusses the purpose of each emotion. Kids Help Phone – https://kidshelpphone.ca Phone: 1-800-668-6868 Text Connect to 686868 FYI did you know that this amazing resource is useful for parents too? Last year, we had an episode where someone reported feeling suicidal to one of my teens. I reached out to Kids Help Phone to ask if I could report the incident for the child and their family and they said yes. Safety is the key priority, regardless of who needs the help or who needs to reach out. Social Distancing? For social connection in London ON during the social distancing period, check out this Facebook group: The Social Distancing Movement. Right now, probably more than ever before, many of us can use support and mental health resources. Use these as needed and take care of yourself too. For us, mental health and physical health are so intertwined that it’s hard to see where one begins and the other ends.

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19 Easy Things To Do To Keep Teens Busy Right Now

Paula — Sat, 21 Mar 2020 15:08:43 +0000

There’s no denying this has been a tremendously hard week for all. One of the hardest in our history. We had to postpone our family ski trip and March break due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. It was recommended here in Ontario, Canada last week that all travel be stopped, so we followed the health unit and Government of Canada protocols. But, that has not been easy. We are all genuinely disappointed because we had an amazing ski trip to Vermont happening. My younger girl has FASD (fetal alcohol spectrum disorder) and she doesn’t cope with change well at all. So, her frustration leaked out at first in aggressive outbursts. Keep Teens Busy Right Now During the Pandemic We have been busting our brains trying to think of things that we can do with teens right now. Not easy, because at least one of the kids is so peeved she isn’t open to any of my suggestions. The first day of social distancing we drove to the conservation area to hike and she refused to get out of the van. To be clear, she didn’t understand why she couldn’t see her friends and that has been a constant daily conversation here. But, my other girl, while disappointed and worried too, has been slowly coming up with ideas. She’s a bit older and while she has anxiety disorder, she has a zillion coping skills now and does really well with that most days. It’s been almost a week now of this, breaking fights up and arguing occasionally and continuously saying: “No, you can’t go to your friend’s home.” It’s hard. I see you, other parents of teenagers and kids with special needs. It is life and death and also hard as hell because life has changed at lightning speed. Here are a Few Things to Do with Teens While School and Sports are Shut Down TikTok Videos Let them make silly TikTok videos at home. For real. They find it amusing. My kids are both doing this and frankly, today I finally decided to join them. WE shared a lot of laughs actually. Board Games Find a Monopoly Game or a Classic Jenga Game and do it together. I mean why not try? Teens won’t always be up for that, but we can try and offer a few different options. Writing If they enjoy writing at all and need that as an outlet, then give them a journal and let them write their feelings down. One of my teens is actually pretty good at this. Netflix Netflix and chill gets a whole new meaning right now. Teens sometimes will still sit to watch shows. Recently, my youngest wanted to binge watch Atypical, so we did. Hoping to find another series soon. My oldest has always been into Stranger Things and we are just watching for the next season to show up. Meanwhile, she and I both started The Witcher…Any other suggestions? Disney Plus Not sure why this is so amusing but my daughter asked for this for her birthday. We added it as her birthday present for a year. So, we are watching Hannah Montana reruns, because it is so nostalgic. Hike Getting outside and taking a hike is still a good idea and frankly it’s physical exercise, so why not? I have already tried this. I will be honest in that the first day we went one of my girls was ready for it and happy to do a hike and the other was a miserable mess who refused to get out of the parking lot. Doesn’t mean I stopped trying. I went the next day with my oldest daughter and we hiked for 5 kms. The day after that I hiked alone, because one had a head cold. This week, we have done a lengthy walk or hike every single day. I keep trying different areas out and separate trails. The girls know the rules and are old enough to understand them. For years, I have driven by Sifton Bog and told my kids we need to go see Sifton Bog one day. So, this week, we checked it out. Happy to report that since I wrote this they have both come around to the idea of hiking calmly and walking outside daily on our own, always six feet away from other people. Make Reusable Beeswax Wraps We made these a couple of weeks ago and they are super easy. Plus, teens love the idea of eco friendly products and reusable materials. Book Club Start a book club in your home. You HAVE to be subtle about this depending on the age. Read Out Loud at Night When my kids were a bit younger, I received a lot of review books here. So, to get through them all I would read them out loud at night to the kids. I sat outside their bedroom in the hallway and read the story a couple chapters a night. We all got through some amazing books that way. Highly recommend this as a way to keep teens busy right now. Dye Hair This morning, I woke up and dyed my daughter’s hair Schwarzkopf amethyst black. For years, I’ve said No because, she seemed too young to me. But, there’s no time like the present. She was thrilled and it looks great. Bake Something Together We have been baking and cooking and making a few things when able, because it’s better than going through drive through. Clean Alright, that might sound ridiculous, but my oldest has been Marie Kondo’ing her entire room. She spent 2-3 days on this and covered every single corner and drawer. Puzzles My one kiddo loves puzzles, so we used to do a lot of them together. Time to get some out again and spend time doing these. Woodworking Grab some wood. Repurpose something wooden and paint it or shape it into something new. A sign for the garden maybe. Colouring These are not very calm times right now. We all need tools that help us relax. Colouring pages like the ones I sometimes share here are extremely useful for just unwinding. Online Workouts I found an amazing one today and I am thrilled. It may take a few days to get the kids into the same mindset, but eventually one, or both, will join in. Of that, I am confident. Both girls are used to a lot of physical activity every week, with martial arts, theatre, horseback riding and skiing or swimming. They need other fitness alternatives. Cycling At this point, it’s still okay to take a ride on your bike. Garden Nothing is quite as hopeful as a garden. My one daughter has planted a few seeds already. I got her dill and oregano and lavender. Hopefully eventually they grow big enough to be transplanted. Clay Jewelry and Figurines Order some clay online, or perhaps you already have some around your house. My oldest had ordered some a couple of weeks ago and it just arrived. Building in New Routines During the Pandemic Nobody knows how long this could last, but we really need to be working on the same page, to flatten the curve. So, keep your kids at home. Get creative. Do you have any ideas I didn’t get to here? Share them and I will add to the list. It’s definitely nothing we could have ever planned for. But, right now, we need to keep teens away from social gatherings and these are a few ways we are working through it here right now.

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