🙅🏽♀️ Debunking the myths.
Now, more than ever, we need to understand the facts, the science and the math to fight fear and anxiety.
📰 The Topic
There is so much “information” coming at us each day - from the news, social media, friends. It’s enough to make us want to just curl up in bed and shut it all out. Thing is, as parents and as leaders at work and in our communities, we can’t do that.
So we need to arm ourselves with the information we need to set up for the long haul because the more that each of us as ordinary citizens can do our part to keep our local communities and economies going, the more we all buy time for our front-line healthcare heroes to get us to the other side.
This week, we’re digging into 5 of the most prevalent myths that affect most of us day-to-day.
📦Risks of getting infected grocery shopping and getting packages: Low. As this article explains, the actual probability of transmission is low (though not 0%) and there are simple precautions to keep us safe. Net? Keep your distance while shopping, don’t touch your face, and wash your hands when you get home.
💦Stockpiling hand sanitizer: Unnecessary. Especially as you’re likely not leaving your house for much and plain old soap and water are more effective.
🧻Stockpiling anything for that matter: Unnecessary. As we’ve seen to date, grocery/drug stores are open and running, albeit with the necessary social distancing measures. Think about buying enough so that you can minimize the number of trips you need to take outside the home but beyond that, stop the stockpiling.
😷Wearing masks: Right now there is a devastating shortage of PPE (personal protective equipment) for our frontline healthcare workers so if people have stocks of N95 masks, gloves, hand sanitizer etc, there are lots of ways to donate them to the frontlines. BUT. It’s now clear that wearing masks while out in public can help and at worst, won’t hurt. While not as effective as N95s, they help cut down the transmission of droplets. The key then is to figure out how to make our own for now. Instructions here, here and here.
👩🏻🦳Only the elderly are at risk. Not true. While underlying, preexisting conditions can make people more susceptible to COVID related complications, we’re now seeing serious cases and deaths in otherwise healthy people in their 20s, 30s and 40s. Mostly a wake-up call for everyone to take it seriously not only for their parents or grandparents but for themselves.
As many of know, the next 2-4 weeks are so critical to determining how this all plays out in our communities and countries. Let’s all do our part in the everyday.
PS - this newsletter started off as a weekly “best practices” sharing so we could all Parent Like a Pro (oh, how quaint that seemed, just 2 months ago) and then as changes came flying at us, we shifted to daily snippets. Now seeing the marathon we’re all in for, we’ll be moving to a 2x/week format (Sunday/Wednesday) with daily nuggets of ideas/best practices of what parents are sharing so you don’t have to wrack your brain each day.
🧰 The Tools
Daily Nuggets as we care for the kids today but also plan for the week.
Schedule Like a Pro: Find 20 minutes today. 1. Set the kids’ schedule. (Consider a simple structure of: morning walk, AM academics, PM creative/freeplay time, dinner together, baths and chores) 2. Figure out work coverage. 3. Identify and deal with any gaps/conflicts. 4. Layer in household chores. 5. Sprinkle in the fun - video playdates, virtual happy hours, boardgames nights. More details for each step found here.
✨We’re launching our beta tools more widely to our waitlist starting next week so that more families can have help managing this chaos at home. Be sure to have your name on the list if you’re interested.🐅Google 3D animals - One of the most fun things I’ve seen in a while. Google an animal (panda, tiger, etc) on your phone/tablet and click on View in 3D. Voila! Fun for hours. Or at least the next 25 minutes.
🌮Taco night - many families are taking the opportunity to use this extended time together to 1. cook together and 2. get kids more involved with chores. We’ll be sharing simple recipes/meal ideas that make it easy to get the whole family involved, starting with a fav in our house - tacos.
🧐 Worth Reading
Coronavirus: The Hammer and the Dance - shared before, but sharing again as many are wondering what “the other side” looks like. Probably the best article we’ve seen so far in demonstrating that with quick and extreme measures now (Hammer), we’ll likely be in a period of caution for months (Dance) before we get to the point of widespread testing and a vaccine, the true “other side”.
Schools are closing for coronavirus. Now what? - Helpful suggestions on how to navigate the kids’ routine for the week.
Our screen-time rules don’t work in this new world. And maybe that’s okay.