You may be one of the millions of parents who now finds themselves playing the role of substitute teacher. So Newsy did some homework and asked the experts: How do I juggle helping my child with my other responsibilities?
“Figuring out, what do I need to do and what does my child need to do," said Jennifer Jessie, a tutor in Virginia. "And I kind of divide it up into what is urgent and what is not urgent. That applies to your work, also with your students.”
“It's also very important for parents to develop the sense of independence in the children," said Diego Román, assistant professor at The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education. "Right now, when you have to focus on your work, assigning them with chores and tasks, tasks that they can complete on their own, then you see how things are going. But you don't have to be on top of them all the time.”
“I think it's important to maybe make those boundaries with your children," said Michigan fourth grade teacher Kim Huls. "Especially if they're older and say, you know, if I have a meeting from this time to this time, I need you to go do your own stuff, I need you to be on your own, I need you to maybe do your schoolwork, or I need you to do your reading or clean the house or whatever it looks like for you."
"As a teacher, I just want to let you guys all know that I am giving you grace," Huls said. "I know that pretty much every other teacher I've talked to has felt the same way. You're all doing your best. You're all trying to get through this. And that's really all you can do right now.”
