Quarantine has become a prevalent word used on a day-to-day basis as families continue to take advantage of the time that they now have to spend with one another during the global pandemic.
As COVID-19 precautions continue, self-isolation is one of the key strategies in slowing down infection rates. With the closure of schools and daycares, as well as workplaces all shutting down or transitioning to remote working, families around the world face challenges on what will work best in their homes.
“Slow down on the toilet paper,” Tami Beadle says.
Beadle, a small business owner of a pest control company, Verminators Exterminators, lives in Phoenix with her husband and three children where the coronavirus has impacted them all.
While Gov. Doug Ducey issued a statewide stay-at-home order, mandating Arizona residents to remain in their homes, their business remains on the ‘essential business’ list to stay open.
“Remaining as an essential hasn’t really had an effect on us and it just makes us feel like pest control is being looked at as a service industry and not a luxury service,” Beadle states. “Bugs don’t go away just because the people are; it is a public health and safety issue.”
One week as of today, two of her three children transitioned to online schooling and it has been an organized and easy process so far.
Beadle has experience with homeschooling her children, so the transition has not given her any major issues.
Home projects have been a go-to distraction for the family as well as playing outside to keep busy most days. Painting the kitchen cabinets and countertops along with scrubbing grout and tile have been just a few projects the family has started while in quarantine, Beadle said.
“We are putting Easter baskets together for some kids and families at our church,” Beadle said.
During quarantine, families should take the time to play games together, bake or cook just to spend the time that you normally wouldn’t have with one another and to enjoy it, Beadle states.
Mirna Pacheco, behavioral health counselor for Noah Cholla Health Center, advises parents to be supportive and patient to help their children navigate the current adjustment and challenges that come with social distancing and a new platform of task completion,
“Adjustment is difficult for everybody,” Pacheco said. “Parents need to help their children establish a healthy routine, encourage good habits for self-care including taking short breaks and stepping outside their bedroom/offices every so often.”
Pacheco advises families to step outside and take in the sunlight and breathe some fresh air instead of staying cooped up inside.
While gyms, yoga studios and other facilities remain closed, classes are being streamed online to help anybody stay in shape while quarantined and that should be implemented in a daily routine, Pacheco said.
“It is important that all extra-curricular and out of work activities involve every person’s interests to ensure fairness,” Pacheco says.
Ducey encourages all to continue with their outdoor exercise activities, such as walking, hiking, running, biking or golfing, but only if the approximate physical distancing practices are still used.
“Adjusting to this new normality for families is going to be different for everybody and the way a parent meets with their child is important,” Lauren Jack, independent contractor at Crossroads Counseling, states.
The structures in households are predictable which currently can be challenging with having many things out of their control. Realizing in the beginning that having a schedule implemented in a household is really important and having family dinners when possible helps to strengthen a family bond, according to Jack.
“We’re all really, if you think about it, going through a global trauma,” Jack said. “Trauma is really something we can’t control and even the aftermath of this is going to affect us all in different ways.”
Jack encourages her clients to implement a morning review where instead of turning on the television in the mornings to write down your intentions for the day and to meditate on gratitude as this will result in changing the chemistry in the brain.
