Faith, Community, & Structure

Keeping routine has been next to impossible over the past few months. Whether we find ourselves in our PJ’s far past noon, or forget whether it’s the weekend or a work day, having to stay at home has really thrown us into confusion. As we move into our “new normal,” one family shares their coping strategies. Structure and community have been key for keeping myself sane. They have also been important to Faith Kosak, Michelle’s daughter who has Down syndrome. Michelle shares her tips below:

“During the stay at home order we have kept extremely busy with remote learning and zoom meetings with their teacher/classmates. What I have been doing is starting the day by making a big breakfast before they start their remote learning. I work with all three of my kids individually.

How I have stayed sane is by keeping my kids engaged in there school work and being by there side giving them positive motivation How Faith has coped is I have set up meetings with her teacher, speech therapist, occupational therapist and music therapist.
I feel it has been good for Faith to see familiar faces and to be able to talk to them.
I do this to keep the same structure going as if she was at school.” – Michelle Kosak

Routine can be comforting for all of us, and one of the ways we can provide this for our families is through free GiGi’s at Home national programs and GiGi’s Playhouse Fox Valley’s online programs. I have seen how much joy the friends who go to Teen Tastic get out of seeing each other each week over video chat, or how much fun workout pals have together at GiGiFIT at home! It is not the same as being in the playhouse together, but until then, we love maintaining structure and community through GiGi’s At Home. 

You can try out any Live or On Demand national program at https://gigisplayhouse.org/gigisathome/ or our local programming at https://gigisplayhouse.org/foxvalley/calendar. 

-Abi Bradshaw