I woke up this morning to the news that all of California has been put under shelter-in-place restrictions, wherein residents are only permitted to leave their homes for "essentials." This news is understandably jarring for a bunch of reasons, but it poses some additional questions for those of us who share custody of children with another human being who is not, currently, sheltered in the same place.

As with...oh, everything else, this is an unprecedented situation, with no hard-and-fast answers. So I reached out to attorney Cheri Bell of Daprile-Bell Family Law Offices and parenting and relationship coach Graziella Simonetti of Your Parenting Pals to get some guidance on how to proceed in the best interests of our kids.

What issues specific to divorced or separated parents with children can you imagine arising during these times?

The little "schoolhouse" I put together late last night because anxiety = insomnia.

Remember the other day, when I posted that it was okay to handle this in whatever g-d way you want? My way is apparently to become a scheduling beast. Now, to be clear, that doesn't mean that I'm sticking to the the schedule I put together for us hard-and-fast - I've been adjusting daily based on sleep/energy/mood - but it is unbelievably helpful to be able to point to a piece of paper hanging on the wall and say "See that? That says lunch is in ten minutes. Give me TEN. MINUTES."

Here, in case you'd like to copy/paste, is our daily schedule (based on the template that you can find if you scroll to the end of this post - it was suggested by my friend Erin, who is both a third-grade teacher and the parent of a third-grader and a first grader). Please note that nowhere in this schedule does it say "Time allocated specifically for Mom to write her book that is due in one month." We're working on that part. (Holy Jesus this is stressful y'all.)

Folk Rebellion founder Jess Davis has made a career of urging people to find meaningful connections through creativity in this screened-in world - and now seems like a better time to listen to her advice than ever.  Sign up for Folk Rebellion's newsletter here. (And because it's topical, just a reminder that The Big Activity Book for Digital Detox is now available for pre-order.)

The world is suddenly very, very, VERRRRRRRYYYYYY…online.

Yup. Sure! There’s many ways tech is helping us all cope, connect and get the info we need. But there’s also the dark side - which poses all the usual conundrums from tech and digital, but is significantly more magnified in the whole is-the-world-ending? sort of way.

So! Here’s my handy-dandy guide to help YOU manage your tech in trying times, not the other way around.

I'm still out of the country - we're in an area that so far has had no issues getting back to the US, so I'm coming home tomorrow, on the day we originally planned...but I think it goes without saying that I hadn't exactly planned on coming home to this. Our school district - like so many of yours - has announced that it'll be closed at least though the end of April, and if the issues that these closures present for a work-at-home-mother such as myself are overwhelming, I can only imagine what so many others are struggling with. 

Related: How to Keep Your Pets Safe While Driving (huge thanks to Joey from Ms. Parker's class for the submission!)

So let's strategize. Here's a list of ideas and resources for handling this extended period of self-isolating with our kids without going (completely) insane - and thanks to those of you who contributed ideas via my Insta. Keep 'em coming - I'll be updating this list as more arise.