Home front

With schools closed and exams cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, there are many ways you can help your child to continue learning. We spoke to Windsor’s Positive Parenting coach Josie Taylor, plus we heard what some of our local schools are doing to help

- Kate Jones and Sarah Rodi

If school’s out for your child because of coronavirus, how can you ensure they get the education they need at home? Of course, worry and anxiety about the current situation and the responsibility to homeschool can be overwhelming, but those feelings are normal, and Berkshire’s Positive Pareting coach Josie Taylor is encouraging people to use this time in a positive way.

“Families should think of this as a time they will never have again, as a family unit. Don’t get me wrong, there are many parts about this that are incomprehensible, but being stuck at home with our children doesn’t have to be one of them. We can use this time to reconnect with our children in a way we never have before,” she says.

“Normal life can consist of mornings firefighting to leave the house on time, school drop-offs and running around after school to one club or another. Life can often feel too busy. But that has been taken away and made us stop. Now we have time to do some of the things we have always wanted to at home with our kids. Take the time to talk to your child and understand them. Take the time to learn how you want to parent them. See this as a time you will never ever again have with them.”