"Routine" is not going to be your friend during this time period. But with schools and daycares closing for, in some regions, weeks, it's a good idea to wrangle together some version of one. Particularly if you've got toddlers or preschoolers at home, adding some level of structure to these days will benefit everyone. For me, that means getting everyone out of bed at a normal time and doing their usual morning routine — breakfast, making beds, getting dressed. I could let them sleep in and stay in pajamas, but I've seen what little pent-up, nap-refusing monsters they become.
Then, I'll try to come up with a few activities they can do with less-than-optimal supervision, just to get us to lunch — maybe first it's puzzles and then it's blocks and then it's . . . I don't know, stringing beads onto pipe cleaners? They don't have to be gems, they just have to get you to the next thing. It's smart to do something that expends energy, too, like dancing or building a couch-cushion fort or playing fetch down the hall with the dog. After lunch, my kids thankfully still take naps, but for those who don't, it's back at it with the activities. Maybe set a personal benchmark that one activity each day is something you fully engage with. Let that be when the messy paints come out or when you play a round of Candy Land or read them a chapter of a Ramona book. And all the while, try to serve up the same amount of snacks at the same general times as a regular day.
If you can figure out how to give some structure to the day instead of just taking every minute as it comes, you'll be much less stressed. Every day may be different, so don't get too ahead of yourself. Just settle on a general plan of attack for the day before you have to start working that morning.
