Help your children through the coronavirus crisis by being the best co-parents you can be. Here are some tips for keeping your kids emotionally strong in these trying times.

First, make sure you and your ex are communicating the same messages about keeping safe and active. This is a very scary time for children, and mixed messages from their parents about what is happening and how to respond only adds to their confusion and anxiety. Be on the same page.

Second, make an emergency/back-up plan and communicate it to your ex. What happens if one of you, or one of the kids, gets sick, or is hospitalized, or comes into contact with someone with exposure to Covid-19? Who will watch/isolate with the children? Who will do the shopping? How and when do transitions between households have to change? Even if your ex is not your backup caretaker (and he or she generally should be), let them know your emergency plan.

Third, make sure the children have as much time with both of you as possible. Now is not the time to begrudge in-person or virtual parenting time. Your children are worried about you, and need connection to both of you for their own sense of safety.

Of course, if your ex lives far away, or if you have a restraining order or otherwise have a REAL reason you cannot co-parent, you may have to find other strategies to keep your kids safe.

But please don't underestimate how much your children are looking to BOTH of you to model appropriate responses to this crisis. They are scared for you. They are scared for themselves. If there was ever a time to be a cooperative, consistent, even-tempered co-parent, it's now.