Know, Be and Do!

As we come up on one year of living in this unpredictable pandemic, take a deep breath. You have survived, your children have survived, and your family has survived! Condolences to the family of those who have lost the fight against covid and to those who will.

What is a Pandemic?

Google search defines pandemic as "an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of people."

Covid pandemic has challenged a lot of parents/parenting in many ways. Do I send my child to the school building? Can I balance work from home and home schooling? Do I celebrate holidays and birthdays with family? Will I have enough income this month? Will food be given away this week?

This pandemic has truly put faith and perseverance to the test. As parents we have a lot of responsibility to teach and role model the skills our children need to adjust to recent changes. Whether those changes are voluntary or involuntary. So, how do we role model this? How do we continue to maintain our mental health while we make decisions that sometimes we are forced to make with the recent changes.

1. Know that you are doing your best! Sometimes as a parent I know that I am always striving to be purposeful. And even in those moments of purpose I am trying to always remind myself that this is my best! Parent guilt is real and at times overwhelms me during the decision making process, and when that happens I just remind myself that Im doing my best, you should to!

2. Be present! Living in the moment is vital during these times because unfortunately covid does not discriminate against age, race or color. Realizing this I have been more of aware of the time I spend and who it is spent with. Most of the time it is just me and my daughters and we make the best of time. They enjoy the arts of singing and dancing and in my oldest words "projects". Often times I just enjoy watching them do this, since it is time that we will never get back. As well as, a lot of families have been under different circumstances during this pandemic in which family life has drastically shifted. I count it as a blessing to be able to have them with me and in good health.

3. Do your part! This is a time to be your child/children's best teacher. They say experience is the best teacher, right? Well what has this experience taught you that you can instill or highlight to your children? Are you wearing your mask and following social distance? When changes are happening suddenly or in advance are you processing with your child? These things above and more are apart of you doing your part.

It is vital that you and your family come out of this pandemic stronger

and wiser so pay attention to what you know, who you are being and how you are doing things.

If you have any parenting questions/support needs or youth development questions/support needs please reach out to parentpromise513@gmail.com.

Until next time always remember #PositiveParentingONLY