OT: parenting kids in these times [Archive]

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Irishgirl

03-31-2020, 07:50 AM

EDS

03-31-2020, 08:15 AM

This is a tough one. We have been doing some facetime with friends so my daughters (my daughters are young, ages 4 and 9) can maintain connections with friends. We also try and talk with them about their friends, school and activities they are not doing right now (or in the case of school, doing virtually rather than in person) so they can remain connections with those people/things in the hope transitioning back, whenever that may be, will be easier.

peanutgallery

03-31-2020, 08:57 AM

Same as always...dog crate

Irishgirl

03-31-2020, 09:03 AM

Same as always...dog crate

Funny just had this perspective that I’m living in a “much fancier” dog crate combined with the thought I’ve never crossed paths with an un happy dog...even ones that have chased me when I’m on the bike...those creatures wake up everyday tail wagging.

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Bruce K

03-31-2020, 09:06 AM

My 6th graders started out treating this as vacation.

As things have gone along I see that pretty much all of them are staying home and interacting via technology.

Some families still going for walks where they can but with parks and beaches closed options are limited.

Some parents are working in essential jobs and so some kids (12 years old) are the primary caretaker of younger siblings during the day.

Fortunately, they all seem happy, healthy, and reasonably safe (I call them once each week if I don’t see them in my online classroom).

BK

d_douglas

03-31-2020, 09:17 AM

My 8 and 10 yr olds are not sure what to make of it. The past two weeks were ‘spring vacation’ here and they started back to ‘school’ yesterday. There greatest interest is who gets to use the new iPad that we bought last week to facilitate learning, which is kinda sad. We give them plenty of outdoor time and they seem anxious to leave So they just bounce together on the trampoline rather than ride bikes around a few blocks or go for a walk. What can you do?!

With my wife and I at home these days, we are struggling to get work done, as the kids have an outlet any time they need us, so I think they’re deskilling they’re abilities to resolve conflict (which was in early developmental stages anyways!)

They won’t be back at school until Sept I am sure, so we need to better organize a way to cope. And for us to cope!

Bruce K

03-31-2020, 09:39 AM

Boy I so hope we get to rejoin our kiddos in school before the end of the year.

Some of them really need that structure and guidance.

But I am also afraid this might be the way we teach until June. The problem with Distance learning is that there is much less/no support for Special Education students and English Language Learners. This creates issues for their success as well as legal requirements for school districts.

There is also no accountability. Plus we dan’t Hold them accountable as some families struggle with access to technology and quality Wi-Fi.

Challenging times as educators and families try to figure this process out.

BK

BK

Jaybee

03-31-2020, 09:53 AM

My kids are whipping through their "remote learning" lessons in about 3 hours, that leaves a lot of time to fill up with other things. I've been trying to relax a little bit, not try to be a perfect parent, and remember that it's ok for them to be bored for a little bit. They will only sit there for a few minutes before they come up with some way to entertain themselves, and that's where creativity is born.

benb

03-31-2020, 10:55 AM

My son is 7... we've been home 3 weeks now and the school is just starting to get organized. Supposedly lessons start Wednesday.

I will believe it when I see it, the school officials are clearly challenged when it comes to planning something out over the internet. We get a lot of huge long emails that contain very little useful information and move things forward very little. All their emails need a "Too long didn't read" summary, and it seems like they need to be doing a much better job peer reviewing their communication to the community before actually sending it out.

An example would be sending a giant email, deep within it is buried that you need to login to the school system's equivalent of a CRM system to find your childs default password. But you don't actually go figure out how to get into the CRM system because doing so has no purpose. Getting into the CRM system is not easy, it requires digging through the town hall website, because the school didn't bother to include the link.

Then another email says you should get logged into some learning platform, this is a week later. Mentions in passing that the new learning platform uses the password you should have gotten. But doesn't mention that it comes from the CRM system, so you need to dig through your email. And then the learning platform is not even ready.

They did a big thing where they offered Chromebooks to students in the community who don't have computers. But they got 500 Chromebooks, and had way more applications than 500. The reason they had more than 500 applications was because they had never explained that you didn't actually need a Chromebook, because the learning platforms actually support iPads, PC, Mac, Chromebook, Android, etc.. so you didn't need a Chromebook if you had *anything*. But they worked this all out in public emails instead of getting on a conference call among themselves and getting their story straight ahead of time.

So we've now had 3 weeks of us trying to structure stuff for our son, keep him busy & engaged, keep him from watching too much TV, playing too many video games, AND both of us are supposed to be finding a way to work full time at home.

My expectation (and the school is backing this up) is that he's going to get through the work in 2-3 hours a day anyway, so it's not going to actually keep him occupied & engaged that long.'

I actually think some of the difficulty is probably the teacher's Union fighting the school on how this stuff is setup. There's been some signs of that.

We have done some hands on home learning stuff that the school wouldn't be able to do as well, so it's not all bad. On the tech side I can do things that the school can't. And we can do "gym" & "music" fine. And our son has had a lot of 1:1 reading/writing time that he couldn't get at school.

charliedid

03-31-2020, 11:03 AM

Not to flip the discussion as it's very valid. My sister and brother and I are having similar convo regarding our parents who are 81 and 82, especially my father who seems just a bit to cavalier regarding going out every day and shopping for coffee etc. and then coming back home to our mother.

They live in a 20 story building on the near north side of Chicago. Way too much interaction getting from the 20th floor to the corner to buy something he should simply have on hand. He's not grasping just how much unnecessary exposure that it right now.

The cycle of life often looks very similar in both the earlier and later periods of life.

My brother on the other hand has 4 boys who thankfully seem to fully grasp the nature of the situation.

I wish you all the best in dealing, I currently live alone and have no kids.

Peace

Bruce K

03-31-2020, 11:07 AM

Ben

I am sorry to hear this but sadly, the response across the Commonwealth has varied widely.

In my district every child has a Chromebook. We had one round of retrieval (they left it at school) or replacement (it was in for repairs or lost). The district is working on a second date to make sure every kiddo has a Chromebook.

We (Middle School) are on week two of 3 lessons for Math and ELA plus 2 (I think) each for Science and Social Studies, and one from Specialists (Art, Music, PE, or World Language) each week. I am pretty sure the elementary kids is much less.

The district is also providing links to online resources and paper packet pickup where they are handing out meals (about 1000 per day).

I hope things improve for your kid.

BK

benb

03-31-2020, 11:10 AM

Ben
In my district every child has a Chromebook. We had one round of retrieval (they left it at school) or replacement (it was in for repairs or lost). The district is working on a second date to make sure every kiddo has a Chromebook.

I hope things improve for your kid.

Our kid is doing fine, this is not the end of the world, he's in 1st grade.

The bizarre/hilarious thing about the Chromebooks here is all the high school kids in town already have school issued iPads.

So it makes little sense for them to try and bring Chromebooks in now as well since they don't have pre-developed plan for Chromebooks.

There are huge significant issues about Chromebooks with kids too because they are being developed & subsidized by a giant advertising company that is trying it's damnedest to use the Chromebooks to data mine kids before they even get to the age of consent. All that data mining & such means more security risks as well.

Maybe they were just able to get cheap Chromebooks, maybe Google donated them to get a foot in the door. But they didn't even actually get enough to fill the needs of the lower income students in town anyway.

sparky33

03-31-2020, 11:26 AM

We get a lot of huge long emails that contain very little useful information and move things forward very little. All their emails need a "Too long didn't read" summary, and it seems like they need to be doing a much better job peer reviewing their communication to the community before actually sending it out.

So we've now had 3 weeks of us trying to structure stuff for our son, keep him busy & engaged, keep him from watching too much TV, playing too many video games, AND both of us are supposed to be finding a way to work full time at home.

My expectation (and the school is backing this up) is that he's going to get through the work in 2-3 hours a day anyway, so it's not going to actually keep him occupied & engaged that long.'

Our school is starting to figure this out by increasingly consolidating directions and lessons into a couple sources, including a morning message from the teacher, but there is still more organization needed. The school is getting there gradually. We are adapting and trying to be patient. Though it is frustrating at times as both my wife and I are also working while homeschooling, and this is with 2 kids who enjoy school and learning.
One thing that really helps us was to post a daily schedule on the fridge. There are 3 school blocks 60-90 minutes throughout the day, and my girls pick which subjects they want to do for each block as they go through the day; we check in periodically. The schedule also includes blocks for starting the day, meals, outdoor activities, chores, etc. Structure is important so long as it is a bit flexible.

Zoom meetings with their class and friend groups (and extended family too) have been good for maintaining social connections. It seems that all the kids in the neighborhood, with few exceptions, have learned that social distancing means stay in the yard or far apart when outside and no sharing toys with neighbors etc.

Irishgirl

03-31-2020, 11:45 AM

dbnm

03-31-2020, 11:46 AM

My kids are 8 and 11. Neither are really sure what is going on. Other than a walk or bike ride around the neighborhood, they have not left the house or been in a store/restaurant in 2 weeks.

My son who is 8, thinks this is terrific. He has read every Capt Underpants books and has mastered the iPad.

My daughter who is 11, is really missing her friends and might be picking up on things. She has learned how to make soap and hand sanitizer.

They were both in a Montessori school who did not teach computers so we are teaching the kids about them and how to use them and are now using the Kahn Academy for lessons. It's really very good.

My son keeps asking if this happened when I was a kid.

We are fortunate enough to have really great weather here in NM so we have the backdoors and windows open (until we can't :mad:)

Bruce K

03-31-2020, 01:02 PM

One more thing -

As long as I don’t get overloaded I would be willing to offer Math help for 5th and 6th graders if they get stuck and are having trouble getting help on line

BK

azrider

03-31-2020, 01:19 PM

We have a 5 and 3 year old and they're starting to get a little stir crazy. The hardest part for our house is having two parents that are working from home and taking turns using the upstairs office for conference/work calls. Each night my wife and I will literally look at our schedules and divvy up the day:

"I have a 9, 11, and a 1pm"
"Cool I have a 10, and a 2pm"

Meanwhile......after each call there are follow up emails and work that needs to be done while kids need to be fed or entertained.

We've completely thrown the iPad rules out the window. While normally only reserved for special occasions and/or airplane trips or road trips........technology use has increased 10 fold.

joosttx

03-31-2020, 05:30 PM

I did not wait for our school to give guidance. I bought a bunch of common core workbooks off of Amazon and we have worked through them. Basically, we go for a hike after breakfast and we draw something and look at wildlife. Then we workout through the workbooks til about noon. Eat lunch. My son then has free reading for 30 minutes. After that they can watch TV for an 1.5. At 3 my son has a standing virtual playdate with his buddy. They play Mario Kart on Nintendo Switch. We broke down and bought him one for this stay in place. My daughter usually has a virtual playdate at 4 or 2p with one of her friends which consists of hanging out in their sheet forts they have made.

This week school has given us assignments that are too easy and tough to turn in. So we are working through the assignments and then working through a workbook.

We have also built a worm compost box and repainted my office. Also, pulled weeds, drew them and ID'ed them online. One of the neat things we did was move 15 boxes (30gal tubs) of books downstairs fireman style. My kids seem happy. They are getting along better than expected which is nice.

azrider

03-31-2020, 05:59 PM

jm714

03-31-2020, 06:36 PM

I've got two testosterone loaded teenage boys (16 & 18) in the middle of their third week home, second week of distance learning. Judging by the way they were dealing with each other after dinner last night I expect them to go gladiator on each other in the near future and that was after they did a two hour bike ride. They did video chats with their friends for a bit that seems to have died off. I think they need some interaction with other people besides their mother and me.

joosttx

03-31-2020, 06:43 PM

How old are your youngins ?

7 and 9

Ozz

03-31-2020, 07:03 PM

I have HS freshman and college freshman....both are home on spring break now....Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video and board and video games keep them pretty occupied...older son has turned back patio into his gym. Shared effort walking dog...

HS did a pretty good job with moving to online....private HS so decision process was pretty easy. They shut for a couple days early (one of first schools to do so) to come up with plan to move online...online learning will continue for foreseeable future. All kids required to have laptops and tech at home, so no problems there....I think they are using MS Teams for the classes. My son figured it all out without needing any assistance (which was great). Even did some "virtual" soccer practices for high school team....apparently WIAA still thinks there will be a season/tournament and there is a minimum # of practices to hold to be eligible to play. Weird.

University took a little more time to figure it out...went to online finals for winter quarter, and then modified classes for online. When UW announced they were going online for spring qtr, we rented van and moved him out of his school knowing it would soon follow UW lead. Luckily, he was just up in Bellingham (90 minutes away) and traffic was light. We got him out of his dorm avoiding a crowd. Thankful he didn't choose the San Francisco school he was looking at....

Dog is only one that thinks COVID-19 is great.....everybody is where she can keep on eye on us.

rwsaunders

03-31-2020, 08:13 PM

My youngest is a college sophomore who had to abruptly leave campus several weeks ago like many students, right after an extended Spring break. Watching him go though the paces of a mechanical engineering curriculum online though, is something to behold. He claims it’s “no big deal” as all of the classes are math heavy of course and he’s connected to his roommates and other classmates, who are engineers as well...lots of group video chats taking place with students and instructors. He is missing out on a machine shop and robotics class and lab, which has been deferred to the Fall.

We are lucky that he is very focused and he has a quiet environment in which to do his work. Quite frankly, he’s a bit bored, as he had a 16h/week job at school and the social life isn’t quite the same at home of course. I feel for younger K-12 kids who really rely on in-class, instructor interaction and are missing out on just being kids at school.

weaponsgrade

03-31-2020, 08:24 PM

I've got two elementary school aged kids. Since I consider us to be all in the nest of trust, I'll just come out and say there have been days where Netflix is streaming for the better part of the afternoon. The teachers have been sending out lesson plans and assignments and holding hour long Zoom meetings every few days to get everybody on the same page. My work schedule is somewhat flexible, but it's eat what you kill and I have to get done whatever I take on. I've situated myself in their bedroom so I can work and help them with their school work at the same time. My efficiency has plummeted.

Dino Suegiù

03-31-2020, 08:30 PM

The next door neighbors have two dogs, one of which, a german shepherd, is very under-loved and very over-aggressive, often climbing up and barking through the fence. It scares even me, the mail delivery, etc.

Further down the street is a young family with two girls, I think 6 and 4. Street parking only so sometimes I see one of the parents with both kids, grocery bags, stroller, walking past my house towards their place.

Yesterday, I heard the dog barking and then saw the older girl bawling, petrified and still in front of the fence/dog, screaming for her mother, and so I went out to see. As the mother approached and calmed her daughter down the girl was shaking, clenching her mother, and asking, "But what if it [the dog] has the virus?" Imagine her processing all of that.

It was awful to witness that. I do not know how parents of young children especially do it, with weeks and weeks of this still to go, and the markings and experiences that may last for years. Heartfelt wishes to all of you.

carpediemracing

03-31-2020, 10:33 PM

My son who is 8, thinks this is terrific. He has read every Capt Underpants books and has mastered the iPad.

Heh, Capt Underpants! Our son is 8 and I think the lack of structure is bothering him. He loves structure but as the teacher learns, and as the school starts to implement more and more, the schedule keeps changing. We started him on that color coded block schedule that was shared a zillion times on Facebook. Now he requests the Day 1 schedule from school (we're on Day 7 today, Day 8 tomorrow). I think there has been schedule refinements literally every day.

On the other hand he's learning to type properly, I get to see how he does his work (I see finished product but have not seen him do class stuff, just homework). He chatters to himself throughout the day, which is different than when he's playing on his own. There's some school habits/things that he does because he gets into "school mode".

We killed his Nerf soccer ball kicking it back and forth on the street in front of the house. In the afternoon he has quiet time (and naps sometimes), which he does not have at school.

Kids are resilient. For him it'll just be "that corona virus time".

XXtwindad

03-31-2020, 10:41 PM

Heh, Capt Underpants! Our son is 8 and I think the lack of structure is bothering him. He loves structure but as the teacher learns, and as the school starts to implement more and more, the schedule keeps changing. We started him on that color coded block schedule that was shared a zillion times on Facebook. Now he requests the Day 1 schedule from school (we're on Day 7 today, Day 8 tomorrow). I think there has been schedule refinements literally every day.

On the other hand he's learning to type properly, I get to see how he does his work (I see finished product but have not seen him do class stuff, just homework). He chatters to himself throughout the day, which is different than when he's playing on his own. There's some school habits/things that he does because he gets into "school mode".

We killed his Nerf soccer ball kicking it back and forth on the street in front of the house. In the afternoon he has quiet time (and naps sometimes), which he does not have at school.

Kids are resilient. For him it'll just be "that corona virus time".

Most kids, especially the younger ones, will most likely pull through this Pandemic with little scarring. The adults are iffier.

Irishgirl

03-31-2020, 10:46 PM

I had this thought...

What if there was a platform using zoom for the older kids - high schoolers to be virtual sitters and tutor resources for the primary grades?

I’m hearing parents still have day jobs and as we all navigate the stay at home orders, protecting your families from an infection and e learning. I’m hearing younger kids may have burned through entire seasons of cartoons. I’m hearing (actually I’m seeing) high school kids are attempting to sleep through COVID and quickly completing there online classes. So this has me thinking of connecting the high school kids with the younger ones would be mutually beneficial to all groups...even the parents.

If anyone is interested in signing up for a test case send me a PM.

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oldpotatoe

04-01-2020, 06:38 AM

Today’s thought for discussion is parenting kids during these times.

How are parents addressing social - (maybe we should call it physically distancing) distancing?

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Tough on my 2 grand daughters but pretty smart little girls(if I do say so myself:))...they understand the social distancing thing..talk to neighbor girls across the street, thru their back fence to another..face time and Zoom with their friends and classmates via their teachers..Even some 'funny' emoji streams about COVID-19..something about eating bats(?)...

Keeping busy is key and sometimes the hardest part. You can only re-arrange their rooms into 'forts' and what-not so many times.

I see this only really subsiding with a vaccine..gonna be a long 12 months or so. I also feel for those w/o the resources to do online 'stuff'..I know kinda rare in this day and age but..some are really isolated....all they really have is a phone, and a landline at that.

This gig WILL have an impact on this generation(on ALL generations). Only time will tell what and how 'good' or bad it will be but an impact none-the-less..Just like those in the UK during the blitz, or in Japan during the last stages of WWII...some will emerge stronger, some will not...unfortunately.