Welcome back! How are you? Surviving isolation? We miss you and your children and hope to see everyone soon!
This week we are talking about servanthood. This is such an important leadership trait and a great time to talk about it. Oftentimes servanthood, volunteering, helping others, and the like gets pushed off and procrastinated because we are too busy and don’t have enough time. Well, now we have all the time in the world. So how do we practice servanthood in times of isolation?
A great way to serve others is to check in with them. Call your grandma, reach out to a friend, listen to a classmate’s hardships. Quarantine is really hard on people who struggle with mental health, depression, and anxiety. Unfortunately, people dealing with these issues often deal with them alone. Be proactive and reach out to a friend who has been quiet. Invite him to a Skype watch party or just call him and ask them how he is staying busy. This gesture could mean a lot to that person. Reaching out can help others more than you know.
If you are someone with younger siblings at home, a great way to practice servanthood is to give your parents a break from childcare. Take your younger sibling outside and play with him for a while. Keeping children, especially young children, indoors can lead to chaos. Many of our parents are balancing children, work, and online schooling for their young children. That is a lot with which to keep up. Help out your parents by giving them a break, making dinner, or vacuuming the floor.
For the parents reading, the children aren’t the only ones that need to practice servanthood during this time of quarantine. Once we start online classes, your children are going to interact with lessons in a very different way than they are used to. Do what you can to help with this transition. Try to give your child a quiet place to do school. Creating a designated school space can provide younger children a sense of security and routine that they need during this time.
A final way that everyone can practice servanthood during this time is by being patient with each other. Parents, try to refrain from yelling at your children when they are wound up. Understand that they are cooped up just as much as you are, and they do not have the same maturity and understanding to deal with it. Students, be kind to your siblings. It is easy to fight when kept in close quarters. Managing some of these emotions will help the overall stress level of the house. Finally, be patient with your teachers as they take their lessons online. Some things might not go as expected. It will definitely be a learning curve for us all. Treating teachers, parents, and students with kindness and grace will help everyone get the most out of distance learning.
- Bria