#6 Face the challenges together

It’s helpful for children to feel they are sharing this experience with you.

Find ways to create a sense of ‘we’re all going through something uniquely challenging together’. This situation will end, and you can give your children this certainty. Our shared difficulty is that none of us know when it will end. Children hate uncertainty and it engenders terrible anxiety. They demand reassurance, which you can and need to keep giving in an honest way. Added to this, there will be some children for whom the return to ‘normal’ is unwanted. Face these fears together.

We are all experiencing a collective grief. We may seek closure on this grief, but not get it for some time. Instead, think about how you as a family can find meaning from this experience – it may be as simple as having more time for each other. There’s a good chance this experience will help you to grow, not leave you broken.

𝑌𝑒𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑜. 𝑇𝑟𝑦 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑏𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒.

The reality is we are forced together. Develop ways to keep communicating with each other, and that includes all the bad stuff – not just the achievements. It’s the survival of the whole team that will lead to the feeling that you’re winning. Try to focus on your family’s survival, whatever its size. On this stormy sea, if you can weather the storm together, the chances of you coming out stronger as a family are very high.

Always On Your Side

Ian