Being a parent is hard especially this of pandemic where social distancing has stripped us of our caregiver network. It’s a needed public health protocol to slow the fast and spread of COVID-19. On the other hand, how can you take care of your child if you get sick from COVID-19?

1. Designate A Caregiver

If you and your partner are not able to take care of your child because you need to be hospitalized, you need to have a caregiver. If both of you and your partner are ill that means that your child is also infected. Before getting sick, you need to make a crisis plan;

• Think about who is going to take care of your child or pets
• Know who among your friends or other family members that are nearby and can help you and not in a high-risk population
• Post potential contact of a caregiver so that emergency responders can easily find it.

2. Isolate And Stay in Your Home

This means that if your children don’t have asthma or your partner isn’t undergoing chemo, you can stay at home. Just make sure to practice hand-washing hygiene, keeping your dishes separate, and sleeping in a separate bedroom if possible. Try to maintain these boundaries until your health care provider told you that you have a low risk of transmission. Not everyone has a second home if they get sick. No matter how enticing, no one of the experts has talked to recommended retreating to a hotel that is not up for debate right now, as our efforts are focused on social distancing and staying at home as much as possible. Hotels are still considered public places and could significantly increase the spread.

3. Keep High-Traffic Areas Clean

There are lots of smart ways to disinfect and clean your home. If your partner is quarantining in the bedroom, you don’t need to wear gloves and dump their contaminated soup bowl into boiling bleach. We all know that the virus can be easily cleaned by household cleaners.

4. Take Care of Yourself

The best way to prevent both parents from being ill is to take care of themselves. A lot of us are adjusting to new routines and new realities of becoming full-time caregivers and full-time work-from-home employees. It’s easy to let things like exercising, eating well, lessening our stress, and getting enough sleep falls when we’re coping with a lot of new and different demands on our energy and time. If you find yourself getting the urge to do one more load of laundry or to finish one last work assignment, don’t. It is now recommended to make sure that we stay healthy and able to take care of our kids and each other. Make sure that you are eating well with lots of fruits and vegetables. You also need to be more active physically and mentally. Help yourself and help your family as well because it is not only you who face these challenging times but most of us are struggling.