A: As millions of children are displaced
from their schools because of the
coronavirus, a subcrisis has arisen for
parents: What will the kids do all day?
The secret is one that schools know well:
Make a routine. Kids are used to following a schedule, so
actually map out how the days will look at home. The goal
is to keep kids busy and learning while allowing you to get
things done too.
- Start with their school routine
Use school as the framework. When is your child used
to having breakfast? Snack? Lunch? Break the day into
chunks, as schools do. If your child has schoolwork, do
they work best in the morning or the afternoon?
- Dedicate time for play
When children are imagining, creating, building or
inventing, they are also learning. In your new schedule,
add 15- to 30-minute blocks (more or less, depending on
your child’s age and play development) of child-led play.
Weed out the broken toys. Move the “open-ended”
ones to the front: toys that sing and talk won’t hook your
child as well as simple toys like blocks and dolls. And
limit adult involvement: kids need to play independently
(which doesn’t mean unsupervised). Agree to join
sometimes, but don’t feel bad if you decline.
- Schedule some easy indoor activities
They do not need to be complicated. Take “box road,” for
instance: all you do is flatten a box and draw a road in
marker. Add blocks, trucks and other toys for kids to build
a city. Or a “toy-washing bin”: let your kids wash their
plastic toys. Add tear-free bubbles, sponges and towels.
- Build in reading
Fifteen to 20 minutes a day is a good place to start.
Consider structuring this block in a few ways: parent
reads aloud, child reads aloud, and family silent-reading
time. And don’t fret about the schedule if your kid wants
more time. There’s no such thing as too much reading.
- Make a screen-time routine
Have a set time so kids know when to expect screen time
and for how long. Outside of the scheduled time block,
use screens only for big moments, like when you have a
work call or dinner prep isn’t going well.
Even with a perfect schedule, you’ll still have days
when you can’t muster the energy to come up with a sim-
ple activity. It’s O.K. Do what you need to do to get through
the day. You’ll have your routine to go back to after that.
Susie Allison is the author of Busy Toddler’s Guide to
Actual Parenting
KEY QUESTIONS
the industry, would just find another show, but “not
this time,” he says, since so many have suspended
production.
Many workers share his feeling that there’s no-
where to turn. The majority of those who have been
furloughed are hourly workers who were already just
scraping by; 40% of Americans would have trouble
covering an unexpected $400 expense, according
to a survey by the Federal Reserve. The U.S. House
passed a bill March 14 giving some workers two
weeks of paid sick leave, but advocates say that’s
no longer enough. “We have workers really worried
about survival right now,” says Saru Jayaraman, a co-
founder and the president of the Restaurant Oppor-
tunities Centers United. The dislocations are stress-
ful enough for workers without savings, but they
also put at risk many workers whose health insur-
ance is contingent on working a certain number of
hours. This includes Bautista—through an agree-
ment between her union, Unite Here Local 2, and
Marriott, she’s covered only if she works at least
48 hours a month. (Marriott did not return a re-
quest for comment.)
Some companies with hourly employees, includ-
ing Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft,
Twitter and Disney, are pledging to pay them even if
their services are not needed. But many small busi-
nesses don’t have that luxury. “Anyone who hustles
like me has zero income right now,” says Rose Men-
dez, a New Yorker who rents out a second room in
her apartment on Airbnb, waitresses at a restaurant
and does voice-over work.
Economists say the best way to prevent a pro-
longed recession is with a major stimulus pack-
age to help workers and small businesses. Zandi,
of Moody’s, recommends $1,000 cash payments to
workers and Social Security recipients, and forbear-
ance of loan and mortgage payments.
During the last recession, there wasn’t enough
attention paid to people who found themselves
faced with huge bills and had to file for bankruptcy
or go deep into debt, says Ramin Toloui, an Assistant
Secretary in the Treasury during the Obama
Administration and now a professor of practice in
international finance at the Stanford Institute for
Economic Policy Research. Policymakers should
make sure that doesn’t happen again, he says.
“The country is being affected by a sudden shock
that is preventing people from going to work and
getting paid,” Toloui says. “Logically, we shouldn’t
expect everyone to make their debt payments in a
timely way.”
But small-business owners and workers wonder
whether checks to individuals will be enough
to prevent their finances from being irreparably
harmed if people can’t venture out. “If people get
$1,000 but can’t leave their house,” Williams, of
PianoFight, says, “what good is that?” □
Q
HOW DO I KEEP
MY KIDS BUSY
AND LEARNING?
:
JUSTIN SULLIVAN—GETTY IMAGES; ILLUSTRATION BY BROWN BIRD DESIGN FOR TIME
