We parents have already made it through an unusual and difficult spring amidst the coronavirus pandemic. Now we face managing our children’s summer months without the aid vacations and activities that usually help us whittle the hours away. It can be easy to panic at the thought of a free-range summer, especially if you and your partner work full-time. Having to come up with new ways to entertain already bored children is taxing mentally and emotionally. As with the school year, your children may also need time to grieve a summer gone awry. Offer comfort and advice when you can. Empathy can also go a long way toward helping them deal with their emotions. However, just because this summer may not look like those in the past doesn’t mean it can’t be fun and educational. Here are some ideas to help you salvage your children’s summer. Kick it old school: Remember...

Weeks, or even months for some of us, of social distancing have taught us that creativity and a good attitude are keys to staving off boredom during this pandemic. Another good practice for boosting our moods during this difficult time? Exercise! Daily physical exercise helps children build strong bodies, reduces their risk of depression, and improves attention and some areas of academic performance, according to the CDC . Preschool-aged children should be active throughout their day — for roughly three hours — for healthy development. Children ages 6 and older need at least an hour a day of moderate or intense physical activity. But how do you manage this if you’re stuck inside your home or apartment? What do you do if you don’t have a lot of free space to work with? Here are a few ideas to help get you, and your kids, moving.  Dance - Crank up some...

Homeschooling. It’s not something many of us parents ever dreamed we would be doing, but here we are trying to map out your child’s education on the fly. It can be a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. With a few supplies, you can help keep your child learning and entertained. The good news is this situation is only temporary. There is no need to try and become a professional educator overnight. Your first, and most important, job is to be a parent. Provide structure and make children feel secure and loved in this ever-changing world is the top priority. And you’ve got Brooksfield’s weekly updates and YouTube feed to help. Don’t try to create rigid lesson plans. Even small children know that mom and dad teaching from home isn’t the same as school, so don’t try to make it the same. Have fun. Teach practical life lessons that...

As adults, our imaginations can run wild when we don’t have all the facts. Now imagine a 4-year-old without a full story, they will have no trouble filling in the rest. That is why it is so important to talk with our children about this pandemic; they need factual information that they can understand. Children pick up on their caregivers’ emotions. When talking with your child about the coronavirus, it is essential to use a calm, reassuring voice. If you are anxious when speaking with them, they will pick up the signal that this is something to be anxious about, and that likely will end up spiraling out of proportion for our little ones. As you share information with your child about what is going on with the coronavirus right now, be sure to follow your child’s lead. As the Child Mind Institute of New York puts it in their article...

It has only been a few days since we have been out of school because of COVID-19 and as a parent and an educator it feels like a lifetime!  Trying to figure out what your new normal is as a family has been a struggle for our family.  Setting a schedule so that the kids understand that this is NOT summer vacation is proving to be more of a challenge than I thought.  Although my children no longer attend Brooksfield I still approached the planning of our day as if they were.   When planning out how I wanted this extended break from school to go Dr. Maria Montessori’s quote, “ To assist a child, we must provide him with an environment which will enable him to develop”,  was reverberating in my head.   How do we create an environment that allows the child to be successful and still lets the adult accomplish what they need to...