Parents

If you engage in some positive distracting activities during this crisis, then the flow of the day will move like a steady stream rather than a slow drip.

Many parents around the country are being faced with deciding whether or not to have their children return to school — whether it be part-time or full-time — for the upcoming school year.

The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly and abruptly changed human life in unexpected ways. In the last few months, since the COVID-19 stay at home restrictions came into place, millions of people have been working from home and practicing social distancing.

Today I said thank you to the staff at the senior living facility where my 97-year-old grandmother lives.  At the outbreak of COVID-19, she found herself hospitalized with bacterial pneumonia – nothing related to COVID-19.  Just poor timing.  

As I was being discharged from the hospital after an 11-day stay, a friend texted me: “The hard part’s over!” In one sense she was correct – I’d completed the antibiotics for COVID, my sepsis was gone, and my pneumonia and kidney function were improving. But that was just the physical battle.

The night of Sunday April 19, I stayed home with my dog Ritz watching TV and eating takeout from one of my favorite restaurants. Later that night I became very ill, surprising because I’d been eating at that place for a decade without issue.

Telling oneself not to be anxious during the COVID-19 pandemic is like trying to tell water not to be wet. These are anxious times.

Life in the time of a pandemic is difficult. Our lives have suddenly and dramatically narrowed while we try to avoid an invisible threat which has been spreading across our planet.

If you are like most families with young children, these past few weeks have been filled with playing simple games, such as who can run the fastest from one side of the room to the other, or who can accurately recite the alphabet backwards.

The use of positive behavioral strategies in the treatment of anxiety and comorbid behavior disorders is incredibly helpful during therapy sessions.