During this COVID-19 pandemic, families are adjusting. There’s no perfect path, and many parents are stressed or scared, doing what they can to keep their family safe.
“Just trying to find a new balance to what our normal schedule would be because it’s not normal anymore,” Sara Wisdom, a mother of two, said.
“I think what a lot of my patients will tell you, they’ve heard from me is stay safe and stay sane,” pediatrician Dr. Stephen Sanches said. “And while we’re learning to wrap our hands around what safe looks like, I think a lot of us are still struggling with what sane looks like.”
“From a general health, safety perspective, physical safety is following a lot of the guidelines issued by the CDC and the state to make sure that that the children and the parents and grandparents are as protected physically from the coronavirus outbreak as they can be obviously as we move through different phases there will be new recommendations to follow but the national experts are really the ones that I’m encouraging the parents to listen to as far as doing that.”
Wisdom added, “And we’ve been reminding them we have soap and hand sanitizer at every sink in the house. And anytime that we’re fixing food, dealing with dogs going from inside to outside especially the front door because of deliveries and different things like that. We try to wipe the doorknobs down but just as an extra monitor would make sure everybody’s washing their hands anytime we touch any of that or even get home from going somewhere.”
The Wisdom family, with 10-year old Bri and 8-year old Lukas, wanted to bring some positivity into pandemic, with the addition of a new puppy, Finn.
“They’ve been great,” Sara Wisdom said. “I mean they take him out, they go play with him whenever he’s getting antsy and all that there, I can call on either one of them and they’re jumping to come throw the ball or play tug of war with him. And even when we have accidents around the house as a puppy does, they are in charge of cleaning up so they work really well together one will pick up one cleans up after and, so it’s been nice watching them kind of grow into that role and responsibility.”
Lukas Wisdom added, “Well he bites me a lot. And he is a big snuggler, and he can jump on the sofa. Do you really love having another new puppy here? Um hmm.”
Dr. Sanches added, “Finding something for redirecting children’s time to redirect the family’s time, whether it’s adopting a new puppy and maybe bringing in a new family member in that way and learn a new responsibilities. Maybe it’s time to teach the kids the chores around the house even even even swearing that you’re going to teach them and make that chore chart or do whatever now’s the time to really kick it in.”
For mom Sara, who works with elementary and junior high students daily, one of the biggest challenges during this time has been the emotional toll.
“Something that I’ve really noticed is, even though we can communicate with each other through our phones or our devices, it does not replace face to face interaction,” Wisdom said. “And you see that in kids, constantly, the way they are able to interact with kids down the street and whenever they see them, it’s, you can just see them kind of light up in a different way because they can see if they could touch him if they were allowed to, but it’s just different than knowing you’re talking to somebody through that screen and you can’t really touch him, you know, you can’t give them a hug or you can’t give them a high five and it’s just, it does take an emotional toll on, everybody.”
Lukas Wisdom added, “I kinda just want the coronavirus to be over.”
“Each family has got to find those things that keep them sane and understand that that still has to be a priority amongst these times while also obeying you know best practice guidelines for the safety of their own families and the safety of others in the community,” Dr. Sanches said.