How to Beat Overwhelm While Parenting During The Pandemic

Ask any parent out there and they’ll echo the same sentiment – parenting during the pandemic is hard work! From helping our kids with online schooling to making sure they stay in touch with friends and family to keeping boredom at bay, we’re experiencing a whole new level of parenting.

Yet we parents are battling our own pandemic realities and all of the fears and frustrations that go along with that. Honestly, it can be a recipe for overwhelm if we don’t stay out in front of everything. 

Here are a few tips to help you plan and organize life with your kids’ at home so that you can beat that overwhelm.

Establish a Simple Schedule

A simple schedule is good for several reasons:

• It keeps the days from running together.
• It sets out a plan to keep everyone organized and moving forward.
• It establishes a familiar routine.
• It makes weekends and down time more special.

Your simple schedule might include things such as: a standard wake-up time and bed time, set hours to work on school work, incorporations of scheduled Zoom calls, meal times, etc. Your schedule will ideally provide a simple framework from which the entire family can build their days together. After all, you’re all probably spending a LOT more time together than usual so it makes sense that your schedules sync.

Don’t Fall Into the Trap of Over-Scheduling

You might think that the more you schedule, the better. However, and especially during this time, over-scheduling your days can lead to unnecessary stress and resentment. Avoid the temptation to schedule your kids’ days down to the minute. Instead, employ a basic time blocking principle. Also, this more generalized approach lends itself to fitting the whole family.

For example, your schedule might look something like this:

• 7:30am – Up, breakfast, ready for the day
• 9:00am – Quiet time or Zoom calls; prep for the day; work time
• 10:00am – School work; Work time
• 12:00pm – Lunch
• 1:00pm – School work; Work time
• 3:00pm – End school day. Free time; Work time
• 5:00pm – Clean up; Make Dinner; End work day
• 6:00pm – Dinner
• 7:00pm – Family Zoom calls or time on Zoom with friends
• 8:00pm – Family activity; Free time
• 10:00pm – Bedtime

Give Your Kids Some Short and Long-Term Goals to Focus On

Chances are that you personally know the value of working toward short and long term goals already. They provide motivation, structure, focus and so much more. When kids’ are physically attending school, their goals are firmly in place, even if they’re not recognized as such. 

Kids in school are working toward finishing the year, making the honor roll, making the sports team or getting a role in the play, etc., etc. All of those things are pretty much off the table right now, so it’s normal for kids to feel like they’re just aimlessly going through their daily routines with no tangible reward or accomplishment waiting for them.

Put a stop to those feelings by working with your kids to determine some concrete goals. Set them up with weekly, short-term goals (finish all online assignments on time, read at least one book, etc.) and longer term goals (complete a free coding class, finish a 1000-piece puzzle, create a quarantine journal, etc.). Completion of each goal can be the reward itself, or you can decide on more tangible rewards for each completed goal. 

Implement a Daily To-Do List

You know the feeling of satisfaction you get each time you check an item off of your to-do list? That feeling is a fantastic gift to give your kids right now! Regardless of age or intrinsic motivation level, everyone can benefit from a to-do list, including your kids. 

Put together a simple list for each member of your family  every morning. This will give them structure, something to work toward, a built-in stopping point, and a feeling of accomplishment as they wrap up the “work” portion of each day.

You can tailor the to-do list you provide based on the personality and organizational abilities of each child. For the highly organized older child, the to-do list could look something like:

• Eat a healthy breakfast
• Complete school work
• Eat a healthy lunch
• Spend 20 minutes talking to cousins or friends
• Get outside and go for a walk for 20 minutes
• Do your laundry

For a younger, less organized child, the list will likely need to be more detailed and incorporate specific school assignments. 

Don’t stress yourself out of the creation of these lists. They are meant to help, not create another source of overwhelm. Set aside 30 minutes each morning (or the night before) and spend 20 minutes focused on the kids’ to-do lists and 10 minutes focused on your own. That small time investment will pay off in countless ways throughout the day!

Leverage the Success Wizard App for the WHOLE Family

The Success Wizard App provides a streamlined way to incorporate all of the above items for your whole family!

You can use the ‘Team Collaboration’ functionality to create a set of family goals and routines, or create and assign individual goals, routines, and to do lists to specific family members. 

You have three different ways to share Goals and Activities:

Share – The parent sets a goal or activity and all other family members can see it, but are not able to make any changes to it.

Collaborate – Both the parent(s) and the kids are working together on a common goal, routine or to-do list.

Assign – The parent(s) create the goals, routines, tasks, and then ‘Assign’ each one to another family member. The other person (kid, spouse) will become the new owner of that activity.  The parent is able to view it but will not be able to change it anymore.

Here’s how to make that work for you:

1. Mom and/or Dad will need a premium Success Wizard subscription. Then, have every other member of the family install the app and create a free account.
2. Mom and/or Dad can use their premium account to set and assign Goals, Routines, and To-Do Lists to each of their kids. They can also create whole family Goals and Routines that are shared for everyone. 
3. Set up Goals and Recurring Routines and Share as desired.
4. Create to-do activities to assign to each family member on a daily and weekly basis.
5. Check in on everyone’s progress throughout the day.

Note: Free users are limited to the amount of items they can create on their own. However, they can view, edit, manage all the items that are assigned to them or collaborated with them. 

This unique use-case of the Success Wizard app may just be the lifesaver your family is looking for during this unusual time. Lean on it to help you beat overwhelm and keep both yourself and your family productive and moving forward successfully.