Pausing Netflix to bring you this.
Some humor, some help, some hope.
Update
We’re not going anywhere—literally (and electronically). We’re in this together, while apart, and we’ll continue to bring you the resources we’re finding helpful for getting ourselves and our families through these challenging times.
Stay Strong. Keep Perspective. Remember to Laugh.
Some Good News with John Krasinski. We all need this.
Check out the rest of the series on YouTube.
Resources
For Parents:
Coronavirus Panic: How To Get Your Thinking Brain Back Online: An NPR Life Kit “about what's going on in the brain when we're anxious, how to get our ‘thinking brains’ back online, and how not doing anything can actually be helpful to those around us.”
Teaching Your Kids to be Safe Online: Since we’re all probably spending a bit more time in front of screens these days, this is a quick guide for teaching your kids online safety.
The name says it all—youfeellikeshit.com. This website guides you through a series of questions that help you practice self care.
NextDoor & Local Facebook Groups: Over the last couple weeks, quite a few groups have popped up that are working to do good in our communities. We’ve been happy to get involved and help out where we can and encourage you to look for similar opportunities where you live (and if they don’t exist yet, perhaps help create them). Some examples in our city include:
Virtual farmers’ market: allows typical farmers’ market vendors to sell to consumers through an online platform.
Spare & share groups: this is a group where people can post a need and others can help out. The group forbids the exchange of money and relies on the generosity and resourcefulness of the community to help each other out.
Birthday car parade: Parents can request a birthday parade for their kid. Then, volunteers decorate their vehicles, meet at an agreed upon location and drive past the houses with signs and balloons.
Mask sewing groups: These are springing up all across the country as the demand for homemade masks increases. Local groups are pooling resources and coordinating efforts of supplies and donations.
Supply delivery networks: In our town, a group of graduate students have banded together to help deliver supplies to the elderly and immunocompromised. They are operating for free and accepting donations from the community to help cover the cost of fuel with any leftover funds going to the local food bank. I’ve read of similar groups forming elsewhere, so it’s worth doing a bit of digging to see what’s being done where you live.
For the kids:
Not sure I’m actually qualified to recommend much, since, after a rough morning, my kid just grabbed her school supplies and stomped off to her room, emphatically closing the door behind her. However, we’d had a pretty good home-school run over the last week, so I suppose this kerfuffle was inevitable. My personal fails aside, here are some resources that may be of interest to you and your kids.
No Stress Chess: good way for kids (and adults) to learn chess.
Prodigy: Popular, online math game for elementary-aged kids.
Junior Ranger Online: A National Park Service activity-based program for kids. Check out the many virtual offerings, and mail in completed Junior Ranger booklets, so your kids can earn badges.
Look for the Helpers
We often think of altruism as a transfer, in which one person sacrifices to benefit another. But well-being is not a zero-sum game: When we devote our time and money to other people, we feel happier. In older adults, volunteering is correlated with improvements in health and even decreased mortality.
Habits of Kindness That Will Endure: Disasters shock us into remembering our shared humanity.
Thanks for checking in this week. We’ll be back soon with more resources. Stay well; stay home.