Short answer? Yes.

Longer answer: you may want to practice living by some Disney song titles.

Let it Go

Routines are great; rigidity is not. Allow yourself some relaxing of rules; the ones you can live with. Pajamas for days. Or leggings. Or sweats or yoga pants. Cereal for dinner because you don’t feel like cooking. (Feel like cooking? Not sure I know what that is!) Losing your patience and reasonable frame of mind while you’re all at home isn’t a good look or is it good for your relationships. Keep the health routines, relax what you can and are willing to. Let it go, Mom and Dad.

Do the Next Right Thing

This song is not yet as well known but the title is perfect for keeping your people moving forward on school, chores, family interactions, all of it. You may experience some overwhelming stress from all the demands of work, their work, the noise, the mess, the incessant questions; you get what I’m saying. You may well lose track of what your goals and objectives are at that moment of overwhelm. Just stop, breathe deeply, exhale fully, and do the next right thing. I emphasized right because it implies there are other types of things, like a wrong, hurtful thing. Losing your temper is an easy thing in these trying times. Try not to do the easy thing. Choose the right thing. All this change is stressful. You may find you need more support than reading a blog post or scrolling Instagram. There are many supportive resources available. Maybe your next right thing is reaching out. Please do. Then, the next time you are faced with the stress try this: Pause. Consider the age and stage of the person who is in front of you. Think about your facial muscles and prevent future wrinkles by smiling instead of frowning. Hum the previous song. Then do the next right thing.

Hakuna Matata

A rough translation of this Swahili phrase is “there are no worries”. This doesn’t “feel” like a time when there are no worries. Yet, gaining a moment by moment perspective can bring us to what is real and important. Checking in with what is true at your living space: breathing? Good. No blood? Good. No broken bones? Good. Sometimes we need to break it down to basics and then build from there to gain a realistic perspective. I expect all of you reading this are familiar with this song from Disney’s The Lion King. I was parenting a six-year old when it released in 1994. This was my generation’s “Let it Go” theme song; give yourself permission to say it out loud. Hakuna Matata. No worries. Something gets spilled (again) hand the towel/rag/broom etc to the culprit and tell them Hakuna Matata. Your sanity will hold and they will learn more responsibility.

It’s Friday. How have you celebrated Fridays on previous weekends? What can you do to acknowledge you’ve made it this far and have fun with it? Get curious with your kids; what is something they want to do that you can do at home? Stretch a little. It will be okay. Hakuna Matata.