Your Home Life Has Changed: 4 Tips for Calming Your Crazy Household

Written By Sharon May, Ph.D. and Alan Hart, MS, MAT | You are probably at home. Honoring the stay-at-home order, hoping it will slow down the COVID-19 virus while treatments are found, and much-needed medical supplies are produced. Family life was changed instantly as businesses sent workers home, schools sent students home, and then we were all asked or ordered to stay at home. In the blink of the eye, there were no more church gatherings, weekend getaways, date nights, no running errands, or getting out with friends.

Before, you could escape to your workplace, school, exercise class or meet with a friend. You could enjoy a change of scenery, socialize, get energy out, be creative, stay focused and be productive.

Now at home, the close quarters create a different kind of stress. Kids wake up to what feels like a vacation, quickly turning into boredom and sibling squabbling. Working from home seemed ideal at first, but it quickly turned into a lack of boundaries, with no private space in which to even make a phone call. Marriages can be stressed with no hope for escaping into a fun date night. Social support shrinks when you can’t go to church or run out to meet friends for coffee or lunch as life closes in, and the craziness of being quarantined at home increases.