Family & Kids - Tips for Parents with Toddlers during Corona Lockdown

This time, I won’t share tips about what to do with your kids in and around Basel. In this segment, it's all about tips on what to do when you're staying at home with your bundle of joy during the corona crisis.

I am sure you have already spent countless hours on the internet and received hundreds of messages telling you how to:

- Do sports: create a sport circuit in your flat with toys, pillows and more.

- Be creative and do some DIY, like making your own playdough or watercolours or bubble soap.

- Play with food, whether it is to grow lentils or play the drums with a bowl of dried pasta.

- Be a great teacher: how to teach maths to your kids while having fun and practising fractions while pouring yourself some wine.

- And be super-organised while working from home. Actually, if you have found an efficient way to work from home with a child, please share this with us!

Here's another idea: why should we entertain and teach our kids? What if they could entertain us, the adults, and teach us something?

Before the lockdown, thinking that my little one would miss her beloved Swissgerman daycare, and dreading long, long, very long afternoons, I bought a CD called "Die beliebtischte Schwiizer Chinderliedli" (favourite Swiss kids' songs). The good thing is, the CD included the German lyrics.

So I asked my child to sing a song for me and teach it to me. We started with a very easy one, an old favorite. It's called "Schlaf Kindlein Schlaf" ("Sleep, dear child, sleep"):

Schlaf', Kindlein, schlaf'!

Der Vater hüt't die Schaf,

die Mutter schüttel's Bäumelein,

da fällt herab ein Träumelein.

Schlaf', Kindlein, schlaf'!

Schlaf', Kindlein, schlaf'!

Here's an English translation of the lyrics.

You can even download the score and, if you are lucky enough to have a guitar, a flute or the like, create your own band. Or you can practice a karaoke version of "Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf" on YouTube.

Boosted by my recent discoveries, I decided to learn another very useful song in these chaotic times called "Hände waschen" - you'll find the score online here.

Hände waschen, Hände waschen muss ein jedes Kind

Hände waschen, Hände waschen bis sie sauber sind

Nun sind die Hände sauber, ja

Doch leider ist kein Handtuch da

Drum müssen wir sie schütteln,

Schütteln, schütteln, schütteln,

Drum müssen wir sie schütteln,

Bis dass sie trocken sind.

I was also introduced to remixes of kids' songs, for instance to "Papagei und Mamagei" by Dodo Hug.

One more thing: we can occasionally stop doing it all ourselves and stop acting like the omnipresent, omnipotent mum or dad. Kids love acting grown-up.

So, if you want to spend one hour having breakfast instead of the usual timed ten minutes before running to school or daycare, try and ask your child to slice your bread, butter it and spread some honey on it (done this; just keep an eye on the honey!).

Or ask them to put you to bed for a midday nap or, in German, "Mittagschlaf" - it is an endless game. Bonus: you get some rest (or at least you can sit or lie down for a while), while they are busy getting some work done.

Be careful, though: none of my tips come from well-known educators or child psychologists. These are just random tips taken from my own quarantine experience.

So, forget about teaching, cooking and entertaining. Let the kids be the grown-ups and the grown-ups be the kids!

Enjoy listening to lullabies, wash your hands, play music - and stay healthy.

- Laure Audidière