Caring for yourself and your family during lockdown

By Sarah Barr • 5 years ago

May
2020

Counsellor Sarah Barr shares three ways we can strengthen family relationships during this time at home.

The coronavirus outbreak has affected our daily lives. It can be a big adjustment, as we create a new routine at home, with home-schooling and working from home. Tensions might naturally be running a little high.

However you can also look at this time as an opportunity to strengthen your relationships within your family.

Here are some tips that may be helpful.

1. Boundaries

Focusing on physical boundaries more than emotional boundaries, it is important that everyone within the family has some physical space. Incorporating some time-out or downtime for yourself, your partner and your children will help everyone to relax and recharge.

2. Focus on what you can do, instead of what you can’t do

By focusing on the negatives of the situation, will further reinforce your circumstances and increase your anxiety. This can bring down the mood of everyone in your family. You may not be able to go to the cinema, eat out or meet friends, but you can still go out on walks, bike rides, call friends and play games indoors. Restrictions are only limiting if you allow them to be.

3. An opportunity for bonding

Perhaps there has never been a better opportunity to bond with your family. We are no longer rushing out the door and cramming so much into our day-to-day lives. We have been given a chance to slow down, which maybe many of us never really realised we needed. We have the opportunity to create a more meaningful connection with our partner and children.