Today is International Day of Families, and it’s an excellent opportunity to celebrate your family and others across the globe. In 1993, the United Nations General Assembly created this annual day “to promote awareness of issues relating to families and to increase the knowledge of the social, economic and demographic processes affecting families.”
This is grandparenting amid the COVID-19 crisis. For my wife and me, becoming grandparents meant a hurried drive across middle America — 1,500 miles in two days. It meant being barred from a hospital visit, then maintaining two weeks of self-isolation in a rented house before we’d eventually be allowed to hold our grandchild or hug his parents.
There are lots of reasons why sleep has become more difficult for your children, but three main ones come to mind: schedule changes, lack of physical activity, and higher levels of anxiety. Our schedules are no longer as consistent as they were. Bedtimes and rise times are often a moving target when there’s no school bus coming. And, homeschooling while juggling work and other responsibilities can make it hard to find the time to help your kids get the kind of physical activity that can help them sleep well at night. Finally, your children may be picking up on your own anxiety and may be asking for a bit more help than is typical to get to sleep at night. What can we do about these issues?
Some say that real growth begins when you leave your comfort zone. So what does it look like when you take on a new challenge? Join Thomas the Tank Engine™ to explore the ups and downs of chasing a new goal in the book Thomas and the Freight Cars. It’s the third in Caribu’s series of Thomas and Friends™ 75th Anniversary Video Read Alouds featuring Kevin Jonas.
Sheltering in place with your family means more opportunities to share meals, play games, and possibly drive each other a little batty. The extra hours of togetherness are also a good opportunity to collect oral histories. Whether you want to dive into family lore or record a snapshot of life in the era of COVID-19, there are several ways to set yourself up for sympathetic listening and enthusiastic sharing on all sides.
Overnight, I had been handed the one thing I so fiercely desired—time—and yet I was miserable. Social media and unrelenting Ikea commercials featuring happy families thriving in isolation suggested that my feelings were abnormal. I was beginning to agree with them. I needed help.
Being stuck inside with your kids for an indefinite amount of time due to a global pandemic is stressful enough. It’s even worse when those kids can’t stop bickering. For many parents, this is the new reality. Siblings, cooped up and frustrated, are fighting more than they normally might, and nobody can escape.
This week is Teacher Appreciation Week, and we wanted to share some suggestions for celebrating your favorite classroom leaders. Since many teachers are staying at home during the Covid-19 pandemic, they are working twice as hard to adjust to new technology and routines. Here are some tips to honor their hard work and dedication.
What do you do when a friend gets off track? Thomas the Tank Engine™ knows how to help! Join Caribu and Kevin Jonas in a Video Read Aloud of Thomas and the Breakdown Train. It’s the second in Caribu’s series of Thomas and Friends™ 75th Anniversary Video Read Alouds.
There are only 12 notes in music, but with them an endless combination of melodies can be created. Music has taken on even bigger role of easing the stress and uncertainty from the COVID-19 pandemic. This goes especially for your kids. And there’s an ideal soundtrack to help kids navigate the feelings about the coronavirus pandemic but also help stir crazy kids chill out.