7 Reasons Why This Chaotic, Unstructured Time Can Benefit Your Child

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Parenting is primarily made up of daily tasks like making sure that homework is done, chores are completed, and everyone gets to bed on time. However, parenting usually has a lot of external structure: The parents leave home to work or go to appointments, and children go to school and activities. These daily doings give our lives external structure and create a built-in rhythm to our days. The standard advice after an emergency, like a hurricane or earthquake, is to get into a new routine as quickly as possible. The structure of routine helps children feel reassured and gives them a sense of consistency.

The COVID-19 pandemic, however, is a crisis that's unprecedented. Some states don't know when school will reopen as normal. Parents and children accustomed to leaving home for portions of the day now have long stretches of days when no family member leaves home. The good news, though, is that while your children may not be going to school, being idle at home can be good for them, too.

National Lyme Disease Awareness Month: How to Protect Yourself, Loved Ones, and Pets

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May is National Lyme Disease Awareness Month. Spread by infected ticks via biting, the CDC estimates that about 300,000 infections are reported annually. Do you spend time in grassy or wooded areas? If so, you are at risk of being bitten by a tick carrying the disease. People who live or visit the Mid-Atlantic states, New England, and the upper Midwest are the most significant risk. However, ticks carrying the disease are also found in neighboring states, and some areas of California, Washington, and Oregon. No matter your location, you can take preventions to ensure that a fun afternoon spent on playground equipment doesn't result in a bite by an infected tick.