Tag: parenting

Coronavirus Life Lessons

The Silver Lining of Coronavirus

Walking the dogs through the woods
Exploring the woods (for a change) behind our house in Fourqueux, France

Before I say anything, let me be clear about one thing. The outbreak of COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus) is a global tragedy. Thousands of people are dying and it’s just the beginning. Billions of dollars of value has been ripped out of the capital markets. People all over the world are scared for their health, their safety, their jobs and their loved ones. I am worried about my parents, extended family, and friends who are old enough to fear for their lives if infected. For some people though, there is a silver lining.

The Effects of Coronavirus on Our Family Thus Far

The outbreak caused an unprecedented chain reaction of events around the world for people of all ages. Living in France, we have experienced this first-hand:

  1. First, my business trips started to get cancelled.
  2. Second, Luka & Taj’s schools were cancelled.
  3. Third, given that it’s not really appropriate to move any sales discussions forward given what’s going on, work is a bit slower than usual.

In summary, I have much more time to spend with my girls, they are home from school, and I don’t have to travel. This is incredible! Last week I logged into a French website called Superprof and found an Art teacher to come to the house to work with Luka. She is the most artistically inclined out of all of us and truly enjoys drawing and painting. Unfortunately our normal weekly routine doesn’t allow time for her to explore it. Meanwhile, I have always wanted to learn to play the guitar and Taj recently has also expressed interest. So this Thursday, she and I have our first joint guitar lesson.

Yesterday we took the dogs for a walk through the woods behind our house, for the first time ever. Later that afternoon, I attempted my first Tofu Tikka Masala. It ended up in the garbage and the house smelled of Indian food all day but it was fun trying. Meanwhile, we wake up in the morning, eat breakfast together (without the rush of having to run out the door), we sit at the dining table and work together. I have some coffeehouse music on in the background, courtesy of Spotify, and I have to ask myself… isn’t this how life SHOULD be?

Nature is Sending us a Message

Since the Coronavirus outbreak, the way I see it, nature is sending us several messages:

  1. Slow Down – Maybe this is what it took to get us all to stop running to the airport to catch our next flight and to put down our phones to see what the last email was regarding, and to talk to our kids more instead.
  2. Saving the Planet Really isn’t that hard – Have you seen the satellite images of the air quality over China before and after the outbreak of Coronavirus? It is absolutely stunning. It CAN be done.Change in Airspace over Wuhan China
  3. Life is Fragile – The symptoms of this virus are similar to a flu or cold for those who are not in a high risk category. It could have just as easily been something much more deadly that affected a much wider population. Live every day like it’s your last and be the best person you can be.
  4. Take Better Care of Yourself – For those who eat a lot of junk food or who smoke regularly, this should be a wake up call. It DOES matter and the risk to your life is real. Use this down-time to start better eating habits and a regular exercise routine.

Take Advantage of This Opportunity

Today is March 16, 2020. As of now I think the outbreak of this virus has been very positive for our family. Again, I do not want to diminish the fact that millions of people’s lives are at risk. Many businesses are shut down and many people are concerned about being able to pay their bills. As an eternal optimist I would like to think that this virus will be contained within the next month or two given all of the precautions in place.

In the meantime, I am going to thoroughly enjoy the time this situation has given me to spend time with my girls and to enrich our lives with fitness, music and cooking. I recognize, however, how privileged I am to have this luxury, at least for now. When things return to normal, I hope we have learned a few things about how to have a healthier balance between work and family. Our dining table should continue to be our communal family workspace where we each retreat to our respective rooms or offices for video conference calls.

Lastly, I would like to thank those of you that told me that you really enjoy reading this blog and that you have missed it. It is inspiring to know that anyone cares what I think and have to say. You know who you are. Having the time to write this post is just another benefit of having a little extra time right now. Please be safe and let’s all get through this in the most positive way possible!

My Kids Don’t Like Reading: What we are doing to change it

When we were notified by our kids’ school that they were reading below grade level, we got serious about getting our kids to enjoy reading.

Family Reading

We received the dreaded email that no parent ever wants to receive.  Your child is reading below her grade level.  The first reaction is “What?  MY child?  Doesn’t know how to read well?  How is this possible?”  But it doesn’t take more than a few seconds for the reality to set in and for it to become painfully obvious how it is possible.

Our girls are 6 and 7 years old, and I have probably read them a total of 4 books.  More importantly, Sina and I do not model behavior that would lead them to think about reading as an option for spending their free time.  In today’s world of endless options for binge watching, once we are done feeding the family, bathing the kids, feeding the dogs, and taking a moment to breathe, the only thing we want to do is watch the next episode of (insert title of latest Netflix Original here).

That’s it… our dreams are shattered.  How will our girls ever grow up to be President of the United States unless they are intelligent, well-read, cultured… oh wait, I guess the bar really isn’t that high anymore.  Well how will our girls ever grow up to be the next Notorious RBG unless they are intelligent, well-read, cultured, strong, confident women? Then we remembered that they are only in 1st and 2nd grade, and that maybe it’s not too late to save them from becoming professional couch-potatoes.

I thought about what books I enjoyed when I was younger.  The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe was one that stood out.  After Tuesday afternoon’s ballet class I was on a mission to get my girls to start enjoying reading.  We went straight to Barnes & Noble and I found The Narnia Chronicles.  I thought that maybe if I read them something that they could get excited about, they would see that reading is fun.  “Bob Books” may be good to get them started with reading but the stories have no substance.  I also bought something that we could take turns reading.  The Narnia books are too difficult for their reading level, so we stocked up on several “Magic Treehouse” books.

When we got home yesterday I started to read The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe to the girls.  I decided to skip the first book entitled “The Magician’s Nephew” which apparently was written later as a prequel because the guy in Barnes & Noble said it wasn’t very good, and I believed him.  I wasn’t going to take the chance of reading something boring to the girls and losing their interest.  It was hard enough to get them to sit still when I started reading.

It only took one chapter for them to be hooked, and they kept begging for more and more.  At one point Luka said “Papa I’m not sure if I want you to keep reading… I’m scared.”  That’s when I knew it was working.  I offered to stop but she insisted I keep going, and before we knew it I had read 40 pages and it was past 9pm.  They found themselves not wanting to go to bed, not because they wanted to watch yet another episode of My Little Pony (just kill me now), but because they wanted me to keep reading.

Today after I picked them up from school and as we made our way through the rain back home, they said “we know what we’re going to do when we get home!”  They were excited about continuing the story.  Before we continued though, we started to read Book 1 of The Magic Treehouse, each of us taking turns reading a page until we got through 2 chapters.  Then it was back to Narnia…  First with a big bowl of popcorn, then as I cooked dinner, then as we baked chocolate chip cookies and then as they had their bath.  As Luka was in her bed about to go to sleep, she exclaimed “Aslan is so awesome!”

It seems to be working, and the crazy part is that I’m enjoying it as much as they are.  Why did it take the email of doom from the teacher to wake us up?  I don’t know.  But hopefully it’s not too late.  Our impending move to Paris is a great opportunity to replace TV time with reading time.  We can get a fresh baguette or maybe some hot chocolate croissants, lounge in the Tuileries Garden and read a great book.  If it’s not too cold and rainy that is…

I also started to think about alternative ways that I might get my girls to practice reading.  I showed them ‘funny’ feed on Reddit and had them read the headlines (the ones that were appropriate for kids anyway!).  But I found the pictures and videos were too distracting.  I went onto Amazon today and bought the Amelia Bedelia books.  I remember thinking those were hilarious when I was little.  Are there any great books that you have found that your kids can’t get enough of? If anyone has had similar experiences, or has any advice, I would love to hear it.