(Editor’s note: This essay is part of Bethesda Beat’s Coronavirus Chronicles personal essay series. Visit the submission page to learn more.)
As a psychologist who specializes in ADHD/executive function issues, I spend significant time working with children, adolescents, and their parents on issues related to school and routine.
One of the strange things about the COVID-19 pandemic is that I am navigating how to help my clients adjust to unexpected changes while simultaneously figuring out how to manage this new situation in my own life. From this experience thus far, there are two major things that I have learned.
First, put structure into your child’s day, and your own, too, even if you have to adjust it. Get up at the same time every day, have breakfast and make a plan
When feasible, have your child give input and help create their schedule. Visual schedules and personal assistants (i.e., Alexa, Google Home) can help kids become more independent. My nearly 5-year-old son now uses Alexa to get daily reminders to make his schedule and brush his teeth.
My other major piece of advice is to find positives and make the most of them. In my own life, being able to help my kids with schoolwork, have meals with them and say goodnight in person, instead of over Facetime between evening appointments, has been really nice.
This pandemic has wreaked havoc on our daily lives and will have rippling effects moving forward. While we have no direct control over that, creating structure and being positive are great coping mechanisms.
Measure your own success with things, don’t compare yourself to others and cut yourself slack during this difficult time.
Carey Heller is a psychologist who lives in Bethesda.
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