2020 Hometown Heroes

2020 Hometown HEROES Magazine LINCOLN DAILY NEWS May 14, 2020 Page 87 COMMUNITY: WE’RE IN THIS TOGETHER! I f you have children, you want them to understand the need to shelter-in-place and why it is important to protect ourselves from COVID-19 right now. While you should be truthful, it is important to share information that is age appropriate. Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Barbara Nosals gives this expert advice on observing what you are modeling, “Remember that your kids take their cues from you. If you are obsessively worried about the corona virus and talking about it, your kids will likely have anxiety about it, too. Managing your own fears and concerns apart from them is important, as security is a primary need for children.” Maintaining some sense of routine and calm while helping them understand some of what is going on is also important. Nikki Rhoades has three children of various ages and shared what works well for her family. During this extra time together, Rhoades said, “Our schedule is pretty basic and simple. We post it on the fridge so they know what to expect next. It’s not rigid and we are flexible with it when we need to be.” The Rhoades family has “an hour of quiet time after lunch each day.” During quiet time, the kids must be in their rooms with no tablets, but reading, Legos, coloring, puzzles and playing with toys seem to work. Rhoades said How to talk to your children about social distancing and the corona virus CONTINUED u Doing daily lessons Family reading time