In our house, we’re trying to keep our routine as ‘normal’ as we can for our kids during this pandemic, and while so much seems out of our control right now, we can at least control what happens in our home.

In the early days of social isolation, and when it was technically their March Break week, we let the kids have fun and let the rules and routine slide: meals happened whenever everyone was hungry, and we didn’t necessarily focus on healthy meals, but rather fun meals.

Now though, with no end to all of this in sight and our girls obviously becoming stressed, we’ve tried to put small parts of their routine back in order. Sure, we’ve extended their bedtime at night and allowed them to sleep in every morning, and for the most part they have the day to relax and do whatever, but now we expect them to check in with their school lessons online every weekday, they are responsible for a few extra chores above and beyond their usual ones, and they are expected to help out at meal time. In fact, dinner has become something of a family affair now: the tv goes off and music goes on. At the sound of the music, the kids know it’s time to head to the kitchen to help. So far it’s working and it’s even fun (so far at least).